


The Comeback of An Old Offer

by Stick_Surfer



Series: Regis [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Chosen One Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Too many characters, abilityshipping, ash betrayed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 74,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29210943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stick_Surfer/pseuds/Stick_Surfer
Summary: (Original Posted on Wattpad)After winning the Manalo League, Ash Ketchum finds himself betrayed by some of his now former friends, where it seems like things are hopeless, but an old offer returns to help him out, as well as an unmet, but renowned person...*This story is inspired by Old Titles (Betrayed), another story on Wattpad*This story is under a hiatus. Please check latest chapter for details
Relationships: Lila | Anabel/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Series: Regis [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2144718
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. Give up Already!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. After two months, I decided to also post this story on Ao3. One reason is that you can search up stories by characters, which gives the platform an advantage over Wattpad. I don't even need to worry about the cover! Woot!
> 
> As stated, this story is inspired by Old Titles (Betrayed), which is another story on Wattpad. Just search it up. I'm not providing links here
> 
> The "Extras," such as character bios will only be on Wattpad, due to the fact that Ao3 is more of publishing fan fictions (sorry, only publishing). Once again, just search up "The Comeback of An Old Offer." You'll find it easily. I did
> 
> I'll be publishing the first 9 chapters for now, which are the ones already published
> 
> One last thing: I'll be primarily working on Wattpad, then posting here, so don't be surprised that much if Wattpad is updated and here isn't. If it is like that, don't worry. I'll update this part a short while later
> 
> FYI: this is an Ashbetrayed story

Kanto: a place of pure origins and beginnings for some of the greatest trainers. This place is also home to the famous Professor Oak, a Pokémon Professor dedicated to learning the origins of Pokémon.

It is also home to our favorite duo.

Ash Ketchum and his partner, Pikachu, were racing back to their house to meet with Ash's mother after the Alola League had finished and Ash's adventure in the region completed, barely managing to win a heated battle with Professor Kukui and leaving with a heartfelt goodbye to the rest of his Alolan friends, he was finally on his way back home after what was an incredible experience seen through his eyes. Both he and Pikachu were excited to see his mother again after staying so long in Alola. With his Alolan Pokémon staying with Kukui and his friends from the region deciding to take further steps into their futures, Ash decided to make another step in his and find his next adventure, beginning at home.

Running down the path to his house, he smiled at the thought of eating his mother's homemade cooking once more. The thought of that made his mouth water as he approached the porch of his house. He knocked on the door.

"Hello? Mom? I'm home." He called out earnestly.

He could hear the lock on the door shifting just before the door opened to reveal an auburn haired lady with a smile on her face. "Welcome back honey!"

Ash braced himself for a death hug that he normally would experience, but didn't feel it. Instead, he looked up and just saw his mother with a happy look on her face. Ash tilted his head in slight confusion as well as Pikachu. His mother would normally pull him into a death hug at the next instant after he came home from a region, even if he lost a League Conference. He thought something might be off, but put that thought in the back of his mind as his mother gestured for him to enter.

"Come on in. You have some visitors." She stepped inside.

Ash stepped inside the house only to be greeted by many of his past traveling companions and a few of his rivals as well. Ranging from all of his companions from Kanto to Kalos along with his rivals Trip and Paul, plus, two strangers: one of them was a black-haired individual wearing sunglasses on a red cap, with a blue jacket and black pants, with the other, an dark brown-haired figure, wearing a gray beanie, with blue accents, a brown jacket, which was unzipped, showing a navy shirt, blue pants with checkered green pockets, and gray gloves with green accents. By the looks of things, he was at least 20 and looked somewhat familiar to Ash. Ash's house had never been more full than it was at this particular moment. It was a wonder the living room still had extra room left with all the people in there.

"Wow, all of you showed up? I didn't expect everyone here at one time." Ash said with a warm smile.

"Yeah...we all know each other, so we decided to meet up here." May said in a flat tone.

Ash didn't notice the odd tone in her voice as a realization entered into his mind. "Wait... how could you all know each other? I never introduced Serena, Clemont or Bonnie to any of you."

"I invited them here Ash." Delia answered simply. "Now go ahead and get comfortable. I'll make some snacks."

"Thanks mom." Ash called out as she disappeared into the kitchen.

Ash sat down on the recliner as Pikachu fell into his lap. He looked at all of his friends politely, but couldn't help but feel a weird presence in the air. Almost like something wrong was going to happen. And whatever it was, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"So..." Ash decided to break the ice first. "How is everyone doing?"

Nobody answered the question. All of them stared Ash down with flat, almost angry looks on their faces. He could barely stand the looks he was having to fight against, and Pikachu was not doing any better. The small electric mouse was twitching with anticipation and anxiety coursing through him, making small sparks of static electricity course through his fur and cheeks. The brown-haired stranger also felt the anxiety, stared at his feet, and muttered "My legs feel uncomfortable."

"Alright Ketchum, listen up." Paul spoke up sternly.

Ash sensed the demanding tone in Paul's voice and widened his eyes in surprise. "What is it? Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh can it be Ash!" Misty barked fiercely.

The tone and the context made Ash frown. Him and Pikachu shared an unnoticed glance, as they both came to the same conclusion: Something bad was about to happen. They decided to comply for the moment and looked around the room, waiting for someone else to continue.

Brock picked up where Paul left off. "Ash, we're getting tired of this." He spoke in a slightly annoyed tone, though Ash noticed he was much softer than Paul and Misty were.

"Tired of what?" Ash rose an eyebrow.

"Tired of you losing every league you come upon." Max remarked. "Every time we have seen you battle in a league, you never win it. You say you can become a Pokémon master, but how can you do that if you haven't even done something simple like that? I mean, it's not-"

"Not what?" Ash asked, cutting him off. "Max, you don't get it. First off, winning a league isn't a piece of cake. I've faced so many opponents that are really strong and have more experience or luck than me. I'd like to see you try to win your first league as a 10 year old too. And second, I just won the Alolan League and I beat the Battle Frontier and Orange League."

"Oh please. The Battle Frontier isn't a league, and Goodshow doesn't allow the Orange Islands to count as a league." May commented "And as for the Alolan League, we watched it on television. Not only was that a trial league, but it's pretty obvious you cheated!" She finished, with the accusation being more powerful than it should be.

"WHAT!?" "PIKA!?" Ash and Pikachu cried out in shock. "What do you mean I cheated!?

"You weren't even in Alola for a full year and most of your Pokémon were way too powerful to have been some of your newer catches. On top of that, there's no way Pikachu should have won against a deity of Alola without some form of drug enhancement." Trip stated. He paused for a moment. "That is, unless Alola really is just that weak." He finished, mocking.

That was the last straw for Ash. "THAT'S IT! YOU CAN SAY ALL YOU WANT ABOUT ME, BUT YOU CAN NEVER SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ME FALLING SO LOW AS TO DRUG MY POKEMON!"

"Ash, that's enough!" Delia yelled from the other room "We all just want you to find another path. One that will make you successful and not resort to abuse. It's not fair to your Pokémon to do that to them."

Ash's heart dropped. His own mother even sided against him. 'She really just...' He couldn't bear to finish the thought. Ash looked at everyone in the room one last time with a large amount of malice as Pikachu sparked angrily on his shoulder.

"If that's what you want, then my answer is no. Now I'm leaving before you all make me do something I might regret." Ash ran out the door with Pikachu before anyone could get up. As he left, he could feel malice and almost killing intent coming out from behind him.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

He was walking along the path to Professor Oak's lab grumbling to himself in anger. "What is wrong with them? They should know I wouldn't drug my Pokémon to win a match." He muttered under his breath. "Why is it that they can't seem to let me celebrate my first official league victory!?"

"Pika pi. Pikachu pi." Pikachu said, nuzzling his trainer affectionately in a slight attempt to calm him down.

Ash managed to form a smile and rub under his partner's chin. "You're right buddy. If they don't believe in us, then they clearly don't know who we are anymore.

"Who doesn't know you?" A feminine voice spoke up behind him.

"Huh?" Ash turned his head to look behind him.

Before him stood a girl with long, Lilac hair and somewhat pale skin. She wore skinny jeans and a purple t-shirt with a purple backpack. She had on black fingerless gloves and held a curious gaze in her expression as she stared at Ash. An Espeon was standing next to her, looking at Ash and Pikachu with interest while the girl gave a questioning look.

It took Ash a second, but he managed to piece the puzzle together. "Wait... Anabel?!"

The Salon Maiden gave Ash a genuine smile. "So you did remember me, Ash. Glad I can stop holding my breath."

"How couldn't I remember? I'm just surprised you remember me. I was just a challenger after all." Ash replied.

Anabel shook her head. "You stood out to me. After all, you're the only one I know that has beaten Brandon at this moment."

"Really? Well, not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you here?" Ash asked, which was a legitimate question. Last he remembered, Anabel lived near Tohjo Falls, which by default is over a week-long trip to get from there to Pallet on foot.

"Well I saw your Alola league final." Ash slightly winced as his mind drifted back to what the others said about him. "I thought you did great, so I decided to come congratulate you in person. Also, Scott wanted me to toss you the Frontier Brain job offer again. Though I think I can guess your answer."

Ash sighed. "At least you thought it was ok..."

Anabel frowned. "Is everything alright? After winning a league and defeating a legendary Pokémon to do that, I thought you would be as energetic as ever."

"Not really... you see... well..." Ash stuttered. He turned aside. "You know what, forget I said anything. I don't want to worry-"

Ash was cut off as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Just spill the Exeggcute Ash. It's clear you need a listener right now." She stated softly.

So Ash explained his situation quickly to the Salon Maiden. As the story went on, her scowl only grew until she looked like she was close to hitting someone or something. An expression that was unnatural for the normally composed Salon Maiden was present as the story ended: anger. Not to mention her Espeon was flicking her tail in agitation, which Pikachu attempted to rectify, but to no avail.

"I can't say I knew the others well enough to know they wouldn't do that, but I expected more out of Max, May and Brock." Anabel retorted, Espeon frowning in agreement.

"Yeah, well that makes two of us. I guess now I need to grab my old Pokémon quickly and tell them what's going on. With the others in the mood that they are now, I don't trust them to be near my Pokémon. Professor Oak should still be taking care of them." Ash surmised.

"Well then let's go get them."

Ash was about to argue against her coming along, but then saw the determined look on Anabel's face along with her Espeon. Just one look at them and Ash could tell she was not about to stay out of this. He gestured for her to follow along towards the lab before his 'friends' beat them to it.

Ash knocked on the front door quickly, which was answered by the younger Oak respectively.

"Ash? You just got back, huh? It's great to see you again." Gary stated with a smile. "Way to go by the way. I saw your victory on tv."

"Sorry Gary, but I don't have the time right now. Something's wrong and I need some help." Ash stated.

Gary could see the urgency on his face and let him in, leading him to where the older Oak was writing notes and Tracey was tending to some starter Pokémon. Ash called out to them and explained what was happening as quick as possible while also explaining who Anabel was. Ash finished quickly, leaving the group with very upset and shocked glances.

"All of them? And even Delia too?! What in the world would possess her to do that?" Oak exclaimed.

"I thought Misty believed in you no matter what..." Tracey voiced out, disdain in his voice. "What changed?"

"Same goes for the rest of the group. This makes no sense for them to do it, but... they decided to anyways. Why?" Gary thought aloud.

Anabel nodded. "I got that impression too when Ash told me, but I still can't place a finger on it. But for now, we need his Pokémon, and I'll take him back to my home in Tohjo Falls with me. We'll figure out what to do from there."

Oak nodded. "Very well. I also have a new invention I would like to pass to you and Anabel. It'll help get all of your Pokémon out of here easier. Go gather your Pokémon, and I'll finish setting the software to respond to you and her only. We don't know how long we have until they show up."

Everyone spread out among the lab to complete their set tasks quickly. Ash and Anabel ran outside to go gather his Pokémon quickly, but they were met with a nasty surprise. Almost all of the Pokémon in the corral were glaring at Ash harshly, making him wonder if it was too late.

Anabel winced as she placed a hand over her chest. "I've... never felt so much hate in one spot..." She muttered, her Espeon doing the best it can to soothe her trainer. "It's almost overwhelming."

"Did they already beat us here?" Ash wondered aloud, Pikachu voicing his concern as well.

"Sorry Ketchum, but we knew this would be your first stop." A snide voice remarked

Ash turned towards the fence and saw Paul, Clemont, and Serena standing off to the side, knowing smirks evident on their faces. "Knowing how pathetically predictable you are, we guessed you would come for your Pokémon. Sorry to say, but they're not on your side anymore."

Anabel frowned in realization. "I see now. So you're some of the ones that told Ash to quit, am I correct?"

That made the group frown at the girl. "What's it to you?" Clemont demanded.

"To me, it seems like you're attacking a trainer that has more achievements than you could ever get out of jealousy. Pity, and I thought you were all mature." She disappointingly said.

"Espe espeon..." Her partner mewled in agreement.

"Whoever you are, there's no point in standing up for him." Serena said "I already tried to defend him. Face it. At his rate, he won't make it anywhere and he'll only want to cheat more like he did in Alola with how weak he is."

"You keep calling Ash weak, yet Paul still hasn't defeated Greta, much less Brandon." Anabel retorted.

Paul widened his eyes in complete shock. Nobody should be able to know that unless he'd told them, and Anabel seemed to pick up on that.

"Surprised? You should be. I'm Salon Maiden Anabel: The 6th Kanto Frontier Brain." She said simply, a slightly mocking tone somewhat evident, keeping a solid glare on the group. "And mind you, Ash beat all the Brains in one try, excluding me and Brandon, so I would watch who you call weak."

"What!?" Paul yelled, Clemont and Serena also voicing their shock right behind him.

She then narrowed her eyes, and cut off their protests. "Before you try to claim Ash cheated again, I should tell you that all the Frontier Brains have faced plenty of drug abusers in the past, myself included. Ash would have been disqualified on the first sight of abuse and drug enhancements."

Paul started seeing red, and his cheeks represented what he saw. "So basically, you're being Ketchum's b***h right now, huh? Figures, cause you sure look the part!"

Silence coated the area.

Anabel almost blew a fuse, but managed to keep her composure together and responded. "You know what? I don't need to waste my breath on someone who can't beat the Battle Frontier. With the path you've decided to take, you're not worth my time."

She turned to Ash, leaving Paul fuming. "While some of the Pokémon here... dislike you currently, there are some that still are on your side. I should be able to help you find them. Now let's find them and get out of here."

As they looked around, Serena and Clemont tried to calm Paul down.

"Who does that piece of s*** think she is! I wouldn't need to break a sweat, and I could beat her!" Paul growled. This blow to his pride would not go unpunished if he could help it.

"Calm down Paul. You're letting one person get to you. Remember, we still have the one plan we can use to keep him down." Clemont reminded him.

Serena nodded in agreement. "They can't handle it if we tried that. Not even if Gary helped them."

Paul barely managed to compose himself. "Alright... Let's just go then. We did our part of the plan." He muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking away with the Kalos natives at his heels.

Meanwhile, Ash and Anabel managed to gather all of the Pokémon that were still on Ash's side, which included his Charizard, Infernape, Gible, Sceptile, Krookodile, Snorlax, Noivern, Snivy, Staraptor, Bulbasaur, and Donphan. He quickly returned them and put the Poke Balls of all of them into his backpack while also making a quick, mental note to see what he could do about his Alolan Pokémon.

He nodded to Anabel. "Looks like that's all of them. Let's get going."

"Right."

They ran for the lab again, but were stopped by a number of Pokémon, where Dawn, May, Max, and Misty stood. They glared angrily and demandingly at the pair as they called out their own Pokémon, with some of Ash's other "friends" arriving to back them up.

"You're not getting out of here alive, Ash." Dawn stated.

"Pika!" Pikachu barked a warning at the others, electricity coursing through him.

"You don't have to do this!" Ash cried out, trying to reason with them.

"We know we don't. But we want to!" Misty replied angrily.

Anabel spoke for him this time. "You can be charged for assault and harassment for doing this."

May frowned. "You're leaving us no choice. Ash needs to stop or else someone else that's close to him is going to get caught in the crossfire, just like I was with Team Aqua and Team Magma! Blaziken, Flamethrower!"

"Kirlia, use Psyshock!"

"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"

"Togekiss, Air Slash!"

"Lucario, Aura Sphere!"

"Electivire, Discharge!"

"Dragonite, Draco Meteor!"

(And some other commands which I'm not going to list)

The traitors called out an attack from their Pokémon while some of the corral Pokémon targeted Ash and Anabel as well. Ash knew this blast was too much to dodge at once, so in his last wish, he shoved Anabel and Pikachu out of the way of the blast just as they fired.

He stood there, eyes closed, as he prepared to meet his fate at the hands of the blasts as they quickly drew near. All the while Anabel had only just hit the ground several meters away and could only scream out in horror as Pikachu cried out to his trainer.

"ASH!"

"PIKACHU!"

Ash sighed in resignation as he prepared to meet his end alone. He couldn't bear to think if his friends got hurt because of him. As the attacks all merged together, he stood there, waiting... and waiting... and waiting...

And still... waiting? Shouldn't he have been hit by now?

"Wait, what?"

He opened his eyes to see something with two tails, a blue head and a greyish body holding a Protect together combined with Psychic to keep it held strong. The Pokémon then let out a repelling cry as it pushed the Protect straight at the group ahead with Psychic, which damaged many of the attacking Pokémon, before putting up another barrier for the next attack, which came hurling right at it.

"No way..." Ash muttered.

Unfortunately, as much as the Willpower Pokémon tried, even adding to its own strength, the Protect Barricade was beginning to weaken from the strain. Then, to Ash's horror, the barrier broke.

"Well." Paul said, smirking, "Looks like the weakling couldn't protect you. The next blast should surely kill." The older brown-haired individual began to glower behind him. Which part insulted the young man, it wasn't clear, but his comrades (Were they actually his comrades?) in front of him didn't notice.

Max turned around and saw that the individual in particular hadn't sent out a single Pokémon. "Come on!" He called, "We need the next attack to strike! That Protect won't last forever!"

The unarmed trainer chuckled. "Well, let's give him a minute or so to live." He said, chuckling slightly "You see, I learned about this, I wrote a book, a book for this moment." He took out a small, black notebook and opened it, and began to sweatdrop nervously. "To be fair," he added, I only wrote a page. Here goes."

"Uxie! Mesprit! We've prepared for this event! Help out your little blue friend there and use Extrasensory!"

While everyone else' eyes widened in surprise, the two Lake Guardians appeared before them and released a strengthened Psychic Wave, causing some Pokémon to drop, defeated.

"Huh. Well, I didn't expect all of them to drop," The trainer said, unusually calm. "But, oh well. Azelf can finish them."

The Willpower Pokémon used Psychic on all of the opposing party, suspending them in the air before its eyes flashed blue. In a moment, the eyes of all of the others flashed blue as well before they slowly drifted off to sleep. They floated back to the ground softly, making sure that they were all still unconscious.

The Pokémon turned around and floated at Ash, hugging him tightly. Ash smiled in realization and returned the hug.

"Thanks... Azelf. I owe you one."

Ash let go as he heard noises behind him. As soon as he turned, he was enveloped into a bone crushing hug from a lilac haired girl.

"I'm so glad you're OK. I thought you died." Anabel said with as much control as she could manage.

Ash returned her embrace. "Sorry I scared you like that, but I didn't want you to go out because of me."

"Pikachu!!!!" Pikachu quickly jumped onto his trainer's shoulder and nuzzled him, happy and relieved. Ash laughed at Pikachu's antics, but then turned to the Willpower Pokémon.

"So Azelf, why did you appear here?"

"Azelf zelf azelf."

Ash tilted his head in confusion just before Anabel spoke up. "He said he could sense you were in danger through the empathetic link you share together. So he decided to come and help you."

Ash looked at Anabel in shock for a second before he remembered that Anabel has psychic abilities. "I almost forgot you could do that."

"Well I should be asking you how you know one of the legendary lake trio of Sinnoh, and why you share an empathetic link with it." Anabel responded in minor awe, though she kept her composure.

"I'll explain later." He turned to Azelf. "Well I'm happy you came when you did. I needed all the help I could get right there."

There was a loud *SNAP* that interrupted the pair. Ash turned to see the familiar individual who had just saved him, while kneeling, try to open a small, steel ball with a cage-like structure. "Gosh, why did I make it so tight?" He muttered, before realizing that he was being watched. "Oh, er, no need to worry about me." He said "I'm just locking up their Pokéballs so they can't use them for, a while. I'll tell you my life story later." He continued opening steel balls to place Pokéballs inside. Meanwhile Azelf, who was being hugged by its fellow Lake Guardians, piped up.

"Azelf az azelf."

He turned to Anabel, who widened her eyes. "He just asked if he could join you."

Ash tilted his head. "Join me?" He mumbled before his eyes widened. "Wait, you're not talking about-"

"Yes, I am. He want's to be your Pokémon." She muttered. "I've never heard about a legendary Pokémon wanting to simply join a trainer like this before..."

A laugh came from the individual kneeling a few feet away from them "Oh I have" He said, struggling to contain his laughter.

Ash, also laughing, turned back to Azelf and pulled out a spare Poke Ball, looking at it for a brief moment. "But what about Lake Valor?" He asked the Willpower Pokémon.

"Azelf Az. Azelf az azelf."

"He said he can still sense his dimension in case something happens." Anabel stated. "He also said he understands your concerns, but he's been preparing to join you for a while now and has taken every precaution regarding himself."

Ash and Pikachu stood there in awe. "Wow... thanks Azelf. If you really want to come with me, then I won't stop you." He promised.

Ash held up the Poke Ball, which Azelf tapped lightly letting itself be pulled inside the capturing device. In just a moment, after a few light shakes, the Poke Ball dinged, signaling a capture. Ash smiled at the Poke Ball and glanced at Pikachu.

"Well what do you know. Never thought in my life I would capture a Legendary Pokémon. But we caught Azelf." Ash stated happily.

"Pikaaa." Pikachu chirped in happiness as well.

*Ahem*

Ash turned around to Anabel. "We should probably get going. While I don't doubt Azelf's power, who knows when they will wake up. Especially with how many it put to sleep."

Ash nodded and they raced out of the corral, leaving the brown-haired figure by himself. With little time spent at all, they raced towards the lab, where the Oaks and Tracey were waiting for him. The late Professor was holding what looked like an electronic wristwatch in his hand that was colored red while Tracey had one that was colored purple.

"Here Ash." Professor Oak handed Ash the red device.

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"A new device that I was going to have tested later this year, but now seems better than never. It is the newest edition of the Pokedex, which I was crafting for the last few years. The technology is state of the art and has many great features. Wireless calls, maps, a built in Pokémon storage, data on all known Pokémon, and I synced your Pokedex ID to it, which officially makes it yours."

Ash marveled at the device. "Wow. Thanks Professor."

"It is the least I can do. Also, Anabel, here. You can have one as well. I had Tracey re-color it, which he is pretty good it if I must say." He handed the purple one to Anabel.

Tracey scratched the back of his head. "I'm not that great. But anyways, you two stay safe."

"We'll take care of the others when they wake up. Don't worry." Gary said with a mischievous smirk on his face.

Ash sweatdropped at that look. 'Something tells me there's gonna be pictures...'

"No need to worry about them waking and fighting back" a calm, and slightly mischievous voice said. Ash and Anabel turned around to see the familiar individual who just saved them. "All their Pokéballs are in cages and it'll take them some time to get them out. If you don't mind, I'm coming with you two."

Ash and Anabel nodded, then both pulled out their Poke Balls and began storing them in there with the laser function as Professor Oak showed thm how to use it. Once they were all stored, he released his Staraptor as Anabel released a Togekiss, while the brown haired figure sent out an unfamiliar, lustrous black Pokémon with steely down and red eyes.

"Thank you guys for everything. I'll make sure to call from time to time. Ok?" Ash promised.

"Of course. Take care my boy. And please stay safe." The Pokémon Professor yelled as the others waved them off, as Ash, Anabel, and the unfamiliar individual took off towards Tohjo Falls.

While flying through the air, the individual decided to break the ice first "In case you want to know, I'm also a Frontier Brain, but it'll take a few years for my facility, the Battle Chain, to be built."

"Good to know" Anabel mumbled, before a thought struck her "You're the one whose won every League Conference so far right?"

"Yes I am." He replied, sighing slightly.

Ash, however, wasn't listening at all. He took one last look below them and looked at the small town they were flying over. "Well Pikachu... we better relish it while we can." He mumbled to himself in sadness. "I don't think we'll be coming back anytime soon."

Both of them looked down for a bit longer before turning away, deciding that staring at it any longer would only draw on past memories that he'd rather put away for the time being. All that was left for him now was to decide one last thing:

Where would they continue to next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the beginning of the story so far. But before going to next chapter, I'd like to clarify a few things (edited on Ao3):
> 
> 1\. The lustrous black Pokémon is Corviknight
> 
> 2\. I won't be revealing the name of the Corviknight's trainer (which is easier to say than "The Individual," or "the brown-haired guy") until Chapter 3. He's also not an antagonist.


	2. An Awoken Guardian

The Battle Frontier is no walk in the park for ordinary individuals. It is a gauntlet of several trainers that dedicate themselves at fighting the way they do best. They test trainers by showing the style and art they fight with and seeing how these challengers can adapt and beat it. Being invite only, it is a way for people to truly delve into themselves and find out their own style while fighting through the gauntlet of Frontier Brains, who are determined to put them through difficult trials to see if they have what it takes to complete the challenge.

And on the trek to the sixth battle facility, we find a blonde teenager with her hair in a ponytail wearing white clothing with her pink backpack. She sported emerald eyes and a determined look on her face as she came closer to a place that appeared to be a large castle at the base of a mountain. Her pale skin glowed in the bright sun as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead she gained after walking for so long.

She looked at it with an uneasy glance, spotting something that looked like a Palkia towards the top of the spire. Palkia weren't native to Kanto at all, but this one could've been passing by. On second glance, it was gone. "Well, Scott did tell me the right place, but why in the middle of nowhere, and with strange occurrences happening? No extra buildings around except for the nearby town." She muttered. "Such an odd place."

She took a deep breath as she gathered the courage to walk up to the castle. Sure enough, there was the trademark Battle Frontier symbol on the front of it, albeit a bit faded, marking it as the Battle Castle. She walked up to a post that had a rather faded red button on it. She hit it, and waited for a brief moment. Soon after, the gate opened and out stepped a figure in a black and blue cloak, as the shape also make the person appear as a man. The person was followed by a girl in a purple jacket wearing skinny jeans with lavender eyes and lilac hair tied into a ponytail behind her back.

The cloaked man spoke first. "You must be the challenger that Scott spoke of. I heard much about you from Spencer. Just keep in mind that this challenge will not be like the one against him."

The pale girl held a determined look, not easily swayed by the ominous air that this figure exuded. "I won't lose easily. Even after the battle with Spencer, I have been training hard for this challenge with my Pokemon. We've changed some since we fought Spencer."

The cloaked figure nodded. "Then come forth and face me with the fires of passion that I was warned about. I, the Castle Guardian, accept your challenge."

As they walked inside, the lilac girl spoke to the cloaked individual while the pale teen was out of earshot. "Now that time, you nailed it."

The cloaked man groaned. "Scott and his stupid marketing ideas. But at least he was right; the speech actually sounds kind of cool if you can say it the right way."

"I still mess up on my speech. Not to mention I hate the way it sounds. So I just wing it from now on."

The cloaked figure nodded. "I'm ok with my speech. I'm actually glad that I got it right this time though."

The girl rose an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"She's one of my friends from Alola." He told her.

"Hmm... well you told me that none of your Alolan friends sided with them, so then I guess she's fine. Are you going to tell her?"

"Probably. She has a right to know, but I'll decide at the end of the battle." He answered.

"I understand. Need me to ref or is Mike here this week?"

"No, Mike's gone right now. If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it." He requested.

They walked through a large blue great hall with two rows of marble pillars with a blue carpet, with gold decorations in between. It had two (also marble) staircases and a set of oak, double doors on the other side. They all walked to the double doors and opened them to reveal a large battlefield.

Both the Castle Guardian and the challenger took opposite ends of the field while the lilac girl took the spot as ref. She rose her hands up and began to gesture to both of them.

"Could you state your name miss?" She asked.

"I'm Lillie."

"Alright then. This is a Frontier Battle between the Castle Guardian and the challenger Lillie. There are only three Pokemon allowed per user, and only the challenger may use substitutions. Now since this is the Battle Castle, an extra rule is in play."

This caught Lillie's attention, as Scott never warned her about something like this happenening. "What is this rule?"

The cloaked person nodded. "The Battle Castle is special. We host a variety of battlefields to make each experience different in each battle depending on preference. The rule is that you decide the type of battlefield for the match to take place on between 4 specific types: Ice, Forest, Rocky, or Water. The choice is up to you."

Lillie widened her eyes. "It's completely my choice?"

"Yes it is."

Lillie smirked, knowing that this would likely put her at an advantage. "Then I choose Forest."

However, nothing happened, much to the surprise of everyone in the room.

"You've got another challenger?" A voice yelled "Um, the voice control system isn't functioning well. Uh, hold on."

There was the sound of several levers being flicked, and the field began changing by itself, the average battlefield sinking through the floor and returning with many trees attached. The forest was thick, but you could still see what was within it from the battlers position. A decent clearing was also noticeable in the center of the field.

"Now that the field is decided, send out your Pokémon!"

"Alright. Scizor, let's get started!" The cloaked person released his first Pokémon into the center of the field

Lillie eyed the opposing Pokemon. "A Steel and Bug type, huh?" She muttered while pulling out a Poke Ball from her belt. "Flareon, come on out."

The Flame Pokemon took the stage as the ref rose her hands up again and threw them down. "Flareon versus Scizor. Begin!"

"The first move is ours. Flareon, Flame Charge." Lillie commanded with a grin, noticing the clear double advantage that she had.

"Your overconfidence shall be your downfall." The cloaked man nodded to his Scizor discretely.

The Pincer Pokémon waited until Flareon was close and dodged, lodging a steel coated pincer into Flareon's side, pushing the Fire type away while leaving it in pain at the same time. Flareon cried out as he skidded and then hit a tree.

"Flareon, are you ok?" Lillie called out. Flareon stood up, shook the dirt off his fur and nodded.

Lillie glanced at the cloaked man. "How did you do that? I didn't hear a word."

"You aren't the first person to try a simple direct attack on the first move. Simple counters like this one don't need a vocal response from me. My Pokemon already know what I plan to command with in those moments."

Lillie widened her eyes. "But that shouldn't be possible."

The girl in purple spoke up. "His bond with his Pokemon makes it possible."

Lillie looked over at her, confused, while she continued. "He shares a bond with his Pokemon that is unlike anything the world has ever seen. With that bond comes trust and knowing what the other is thinking."

Lillie glanced back at the Castle Guardian, who nodded. "Passion for battles draws on the most strength from the bonds between me and my Pokémon. I sure hope you're prepared to face this, because it only get's harder. Scizor, Agility."

Multiple afterimages of Scizor appeared as his speed began to increase quickly.

"Now use the trees as cover and get in close."

Scizor disappeared as it began moving from tree to tree quickly, leaving Flareon looking around wildly while wondering where Scizor is going to come from. However, Lillie had a plan for this.

"Flareon, close your eyes and try to sense where Scizor will be coming in from."

Flareon nodded as it closed its eyes and began to listen. Lillie also began looking around wherever she heard sounds. However, that also made her less aware of her opponent's movements.

Flareon's eyes snapped open. "Now use Flamethrower."

Scizor appeared just to the right of Flareon and was charging in quickly. Flareon, quick on the draw, fired the Flamethrower, landing a direct hit onto Scizor, pushing it back.

"Nice hit Flareon!"

But as Scizor was being sent back, suddenly it vanished out of existence with a puff of smoke.

Lillie widened her eyes. "A substitute!?"

The Castle Guardian didn't miss a beat. "Metal Claw into Air Slash."

This time, Scizor was on the right, with only a small dent on his forehead from using substitute, inches away from Flareon, hitting the Pokemon as he was off guard, and sending him towards a tree while firing an Air Slash that hit mid air, forcing him through one of the trees and into another, where he finally came crashing down.

"Flareon!" Lillie cried out.

The Castle Guardian shook his head. "Unfortunate that you didn't notice."

Lillie turned her head to him. "How could he recover so quickly? That would've defeated him."

"You didn't notice me issuing a command cause you were focused on looking for Scizor. While your attention was diverted, I spoke silently and issued a Substitute." He informed her.

Lillie looked at her Flareon as it struggled to stand up. "A-Are you o-okay?" She stuttered.

Flareon nodded slowly as he was wincing from the pain. Lillie was having trouble watching, as she hated seeing her Pokemon struggle like that. She wasn't sure if there was anything she could do to beat this man. She finally decided to issue a command as Flareon finally stood up.

"Flareon, use..." Lillie started, but struggled to come up with a command. 'Ugh! What do I do?!' She questioned herself while gritting her teeth in agitation.

"You're hesitating. Scizor, end this with Air Slash."

"Dodge it with Quick Attack! Bounce from tree to tree!" She commanded, jumping out of her hesitation, determined to not give it up.

Flareon gathered his strength and formed some energy to make him move at a rapid pace, just dodging the Air Slash attack in time. The Flame Pokémon bounced from tree trunk to tree trunk, trying to use his fast movements to confuse Scizor.

"Now use Fire Blast!" She commanded.

Flareon stopped on a tree branch just to Scizor's left and fired a heavy blast of fire type energy straight towards Scizor.

However, the Castle Guardian was not surprised. "Agility into Bullet Punch."

Scizor disappeared in another display of afterimages as his blur appeared all across the battlefield, once again confusing both Lillie and Flareon. However, just a moment later, Flareon was struck unexpectedly with a strike of Scizor's metal enhanced claw, firing Flareon down off of the tree and making it skid a few feet before slowing down. Scizor dropped down from the tree branch and stood a few feet away from a defeated Flareon, who was laying there with swirls it its eyes. "Flareon is unable to battle. Scizor wins. Send out your next Pokémon."

Lillie's mind froze as the call was made. She never thought that her Flareon would be beaten so efficiently, and by a Scizor nonetheless. With all of her past counterattacks left unsuccessful, she was left at a standstill as to what she could do in this situation. This was the only Pokémon she had that could deal with Scizor the best. And even with her other Pokémon, she wasn't sure she wanted to see them get hurt.

She finally settled on her next Pokémon and pulled out another Poke Ball. "Noctowl, come on out!"

The brown bird Pokémon appeared from the Poke Ball with a light flash, letting out a cry of determination as it flapped it's wings. Lillie took another deep breath and formed another focused expression. "If we can't keep up with it's speed then maybe keeping it at a farther distance would help us react better." She mumbled to herself.

The Castle Guardian looked at the Noctowl with a simple expression. 'I'm not sure what you're planning, but don't expect it to work so easily, Lillie.' He thought to himself.

"Noctowl vs Scizor. Battle begin!"

Lillie threw her hand forward. "Noctowl, soar to the sky and use Calm Mind.".

As Noctowl flew up and began to close it's eyes in focus, the Castle Guardian's eyes shifted. 'You're trying to build power and put distance between us. But...' He stole one more glance at Lillie and swore he saw her twitch under his gaze. "I see." He muttered, which made Lillie wince slightly at the tone.

"Scizor, use Swords Dance, then use Double Team all over the forest."

Lillie's eyes widened and the referee's weight shifted from her stand in anticipation of the strategy.

Suddenly, Scizor's claws started glowing and sharpening from the sword projections, showing its power rise even more as the red bug type disappeared into the forest before tons of Scizor began to appear around the forest. Some in trees, some on the ground and some hidden by the treetops that Lillie still couldn't see.

"Now, charge Noctowl with Metal Claw!"

All the copies of Scizor started to dash from the trees and fly upwards towards the flying type Pokémon. Lillie was surprised at the sheer number, but she reacted accordingly. "Use Detect to dodge and blast them all away with Extrasensory and Heat Wave!"

And thus, it became a multicolored dance between Noctowl and all the copies that Scizor had launched at the bird. Noctowl dodged gracefully as it just managed to find a hole in each attack pattern that the Scizor army launched. With each dodge, Noctowl managed to fire off a deadly (for Scizor at least) Heat Wave to destroy a small group or use an ineffective Extrasensory to blast the surrounding copies away. However, each attack that Noctowl launched seem to only destroy another copy.

It finally grew to the point where the copies died down and Noctowl was floating in the air, clearly tired from the use of it's powers in succession. Lillie, however, was unsure where the real Scizor was.

"Now Bullet Punch to the sky!"

In a complete blur that caught everyone off guard besides the Castle Guardian, Scizor flew straight into the sky and landed an uppercut on Noctowl. In a moment, Noctowl was slowly losing altitude as it tried to recover.

"Noctowl!" Lillie called out in worry.

"Now Dual Wingbeat, and end this. Softly though."

Scizor fired a flap of his small wings, shooting two blasts of air to make Noctowl lose its balance and fall to the ground, dust kicking up as a result. When the dust settled, Noctowl was out cold.

"Noctowl is unable to battle. Scizor wins. Challenger, please send out your last Pokémon."

After returning her Noctowl, Lillie decided to continue on after what felt like an eternity. She took one more deep breath. "Alright. Let's do this. Clefable, come on out!"

The lilac girl rose her hands and threw them down again. "Clefable versus Scizor. Battle begin."

"Clefable use..." Lillie began before she hesitated again. Not only had her direct and distance approaches failed, but she had still been unsuccessful in landing a complete hit on the Scizor.

'Agh! What do I do!?' She yelled in her mind.

"Enough of this!"

. . . . . . .

Lillie looked up at the cloaked man as he shouted. "Where is the passion for battling that I was expecting? Where is the fire Spencer warned me about? Your Flareon lost to Scizor and I, so what? If Scott picked you, you should know by now that type advantage means nothing in a battle!" He yelled. "How do you think your Pokémon are feeling as a result of your lack of confidence?"

"My... Pokémon?" Lillie looked down at Clefable, who was appearing to have a sad look as it stared at Lillie.

"Clef..." The fairy type Pokémon looked at her trainer with a worried expression. As Lillie stared at her Pokémon and looked towards the Scizor that opposed her standing there menacingly, Lillie finally noticed that her body language was giving it all away. She looked at her hands and realized her whole body was shaking under everyone's gaze. She gasped.

"You see it now, don't you?" He barked. "You're not releasing your passion; you're exuding pure fear and anxiety because you're lacking a surefire plan. The bonds between us and our Pokémon run so much deeper than people realize. It's to the point where we can feel each other's emotions without even saying anything." He explained.

"I need to be strong for my Pokémon. Just like they are for me." She muttered while taking a look at that Scizor again while also glancing at the Castle Guardian, who's fiery red auburn eyes stared back at her passively, but also with focus and energy that had yet to be released. "They're so powerful... so relentless... but he looks like he's disappointed as well. It really is kind of scary."

Her mind shifted back to the past as she remembered one boy who shared a similar stare from before she began her journey outside the region of Alola. "But it's so much like his... I shouldn't be scared of something like this. He's just full of passion and I'm not delivering my own." She realized. "This isn't a match, this is a slaughter. No wonder he's not having fun!"

She looked up, the fire in her eyes restored. "It's time I stop acting like a child. Look out, cause the real battle starts now!"

The Castle Guardian smiled underneath his cloak. 'Atta girl. Just like I taught you.' He thought to himself.

This action, however, did not go unnoticed by a certain someone on the side.

The Castle Guardian took one more look at his Scizor, who was panting. 'The last two battles have left him exhausted. He might not make it out of this one the same way. We gotta go for broke.'

"Use Calm Mind!" Lillie yelled out.

Clefable closed her eyes as it began to channel energy.

"Don't let it. Use Bullet Punch."

"Dodge under then use Flamethrower!"

As Scizor was coming in with a metallic claw, Clefable opened it's eyes and watched the bug come in. With grace not native to it's species, it dodged under the usually undodgable Bullet Punch and aimed a Flamethrower directly onto Scizor's chest.

"What!?"

Scizor was sent back towards the cloaked man. "Can you continue?"

Scizor gave a small nod, though he clearly felt that one. "Alright, now into the trees, then use Double Team into Air Slash!"

"Dodge them all and try to sense the real one." Lillie commanded.

As Scizor entered the treeline, it separated into multiple images, each preparing an Air Slash to fire. As they fired, Clefable jumped from it's spot and locked eyes with one particular copy. "Use Flamethrower."

Clefable wasted no time as it launched a Flamethrower, meeting Scizor head on, knocking it out as it got sent back into a tree.

"Scizor is unable to battle. The winner is Clefable." The girl inferred.

The cloaked man returned Scizor, looking at it's Poke Ball. "You did great bud. I guess we still need more endurance training. For now, take a long rest. You earned it." He told his Scizor before turning back to Lillie. "Impressive agility. I see you've trained at the Fighting Dojo."

Lillie widened her eyes. "How did you know?"

"No other place in the world teaches that fighting style. I do commend you for teaching it to a Fairy type though. But the battle is far from over."

Lillie smiled, her eyes lit with an unseen flame that the Castle Guardian recognized. "I'm ready for you!"

He smirked as he pulled out an extra Poke Ball. "Pidgeot, I choose you!"

The Flying type let out a large cry as it landed from being released from it's Poke Ball. Determination originated from the sound of the birds voice. Lillie was in awe of the Pokémon for a second before realizing this was still a battle.

"Pidgeot versus Clefable. Battle Begin."

"Use Moonblast and try to finish this quickly." Lillie commanded.

"Dodge and use Hurricane."

Pidgeot swiftly dodged the Fairy type move while forming energy into it's wings and flapping them downward. A twister stormed around Clefable, damaging the Fairy type quickly while also knocking away most of the surrounding trees. A cry of pain was heard through the battlefield.

"Clefable, break through with Brick Break."

Clefable channeled energy into it's hand and swung on the side of the twister, forcing it to dissipate.

"Now fire an Ice Beam."

"Double Team around Clefable."

"Spin around!"

Pidgeot used Double Team to encircle Clefable, hoping to dodge the incoming attack, but was greeted with a surprise when Clefable started to spin, attacking all the copies and still managing to land the hit.

'She took a page from my book.' The cloaked man thought to himself as Pidgeot shook off the attack.

"Thunderbolt."

"Hurricane and contain it!"

Pidgeot formed another Hurricane, absorbing the Thunderbolt into it and somehow using it to charge the attack with the electricity. Lillie looked at the attack in a mixture of awe and shock. "No way!"

"Now fire it!"

Pidgeot launched the Hurricane at Clefable, who tried to dodge it with it's nimble agility, but was unfortunately caught in the end. The attack dealt a lot of damage before it dispersed, dust still stirred up. After the dust was gone, it was revealed that Clefable was still standing, though the force of the attack made a few tree branches break across the field.

"Impressive. But unfortunately, the battle ends here!" The Castle Guardian called out.

Lillie looked at Clefable, who nodded back at her trainer, confirming that she was ok. "We're not done yet! Clefable, spin around and use Thunderbolt again!"

The fairy type began to spin around on its feet and fire blasts of electricity all around the arena, which Pidgeot barely dodged.

"Time to go for broke Pidgeot! Use Brave Bird and end this battle!" He commanded.

Pidgeot dove down, dodging the Thunderbolt, and started glowing blue. As it leveled out, it started to take on a fiery look as it charged head on to Clefable, who had stopped spinning with Thunderbolt and was staring at the approaching bird.

"Meet it head on with a Thunder Punch!" Lillie yelled out.

Electricity cracked as Clefable's hand was covered with energy. It rushed through the broken woods towards Pidgeot, meeting the impact with a large explosion, sending a shockwave that could knock someone over. The power caused a lot of the trees to shift and break many of the tree branches, knocking much of them all around the field.

When the smoke cleared, both Pokémon, with swirls in their eyes, were laying down on the ground. The girl made the call.

"The match is a tie. As it is a tie, due to having one Pokémon left, Castle Guardian Ash wins the battle." She exclaimed.

Lillie sighed, clearly missing the name and walked up to Clefable, who was on the floor and clearly tired after such a long match. "You fought so well. I'm sorry I lost my confidence in that match."

The Castle Guardian returned his Pidgeot. "You fought bravely Pidgeot. Take a good long rest."

Once both battlers left the field, several lever flicks were heard, and the forest sank into the floor, replaced with a perfectly clean one, albeit littered slightly with fallen trees.

The Salon Maiden walked off of the ref post and towards the Castle Guardian. "Well done with the strategies. It seemed like you had a proper counter to each of her strategies and you backed her into a corner in a lot of situations."

"Yes, but a lot of that was based on fear. If she had displayed all of her passion much more early in the match, the outcome would have been different."

"Fair enough. Why did you hold back on the last move?" Anabel added.

Ash shrugged. "Well, it wasn't that I stopped myself. Her passion and determination was just so great that it pushed Clefable to make the stalemate. I could've asked Pidgeot for more power or even pulled my trump card, but with that display, it might not have made a big difference."

"You sure about that?" Anabel inquired snidely.

"Well, no... but she did great at the end, regardless of losing. I don't regret helping her wake up." He turned towards Lillie, ignoring the light giggle coming from the Salon Maiden. "And I know you saw it too."

Anabel smiled as Lillie and her Clefable laughed. "Yeah. She really reminds me of you. She even took a few pages out of your playbook."

"I taught her a few things back in Alola. I'm surprised she still knows them, but she is still a long way to go from mastering her own unique battling style." Ash stated.

"Do you think she'll get there?"

"Someday. After all, it's taken me years to get this far. Even if she lost, there is still so much growing left that she has to do."

"Good eye. Looks like you have your observations down pat. So do you plan to tell her since she completely missed it?" Anabel asked.

Ash sighed. "I guess so, I planned to save some of that for the Arc Tournament, but not now."

They walked up to Lillie, who was returning Clefable and as well as directing her attention towards the pair. "You fought well. Your passion burned so bright that if the match had gone on any longer, I would not have won like I did. I am proud to see the bond you share with your Pokémon."

"Thank you so much. I plan to rematch you in the future, cause I'm not done with the challenge yet. There is still so much I have left to learn." Lillie stated while looking at the Castle Guardian. "By the way, I never learned your name from Spencer or Scott. What is it?"

Ash tossed a look at the Salon Maiden, and she nodded. "Well, it may come as a shock, but..."

"Pikaa!"

They all turned to see in the stands, there was a Pikachu sitting with an Espeon. And he was waving right at Lillie.

"A Pikachu! I haven't seen one in a while!" She exclaimed with a smile. But then she suddenly frowned as her eyes squinted while looking at the Pikachu. "Wait a second. Why does he act like he knows me? And why is he so familiar?" She wondered.

"It's because he is."

Lillie turned to see the Castle Guardian toss off his cloak to reveal a red Poke Ball hat, white long sleeve shirt and blue vest, blue jeans, and black shoes. Raven hair was seen under the hat, and the burning auburn eyes and tan skin were all too familiar to the pale girl.

"Nice to see you again, Lillie." He tipped his cap with his right hand. "I'm Castle Guardian Ash. The 6th Frontier Brain of the Pokémon Battle Frontier."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. 4444 words (not including this bottom part, which may be false for Ao3). Some things that I haven't mentioned in this chapter are as follows:
> 
> 1\. Was that an actual Palkia? Until I clarify, it's up to you to decide.
> 
> 2\. Ash's age in this continuity/parallel universe: I'd say around 16 or 18
> 
> 3\. In case you're asking what a parallel universe is, it's basically where another universe has near-same events, but a different choice has been made. Every time a choice is presented, a new parallel universe is made.
> 
> 4\. This chapter is *very* similar to Bl0t0rch's. There wasn't anything major for this chapter.
> 
> 5\. I published this chapter late :( (Random 3rd party: You published it late on Wattpad. Not so much on Ao3)


	3. Revelations

They stood there for a few good minutes as Lillie was seemingly frozen in time. Her face was completely in shock, with her jaw agape and eyes wide. She was hardly moving except for her chest breathing as her mind slowly tried to catch up with her.

"It's... really you?" She mumbled.

Ash nodded, a wry smile on his face. "Yeah... it's me." He answered her.

"I... I..." She struggled to speak.

Anabel suddenly started looking uneasy. "Um, Ash?"

Ash turned to face the Salon Maiden. "What?"

"I... I-" Her voice started sounding much more strained as her face started morphing.

"We might want to run!"

"What do y-?" He turned back to Lillie, only to see that Lillie's face had taken on a horrific glare that just spoke of death as she started to take a step forward.

"I SHOULD KILL YOU FOR MAKING ME WORRY!"

"OH CRAP!" Ash hauled it straight out of the battlefield room with Anabel following close behind, not wanting to be within that girl's circle of rage. As they got out of the room, Lillie immediately started giving chase to the pair, steam coming out of her ears from all of her anger. Pikachu and Espeon simply sweatdropped at Lillie's apparent rage and chose not to get involved with this, as a very confused technician wondered why the battlefield was suddenly empty.

Lillie chased them right out of the door and saw them take a right, going up one of the sets of Grand Stairs that led to the East Wing. Lillie followed suit, not wanting the pair out her sight. She started lunging up the steps, slowly gaining ground on them.

"YOU GET BACK HERE!!!" Lillie screeched as they ran up the stairs.

"Is she always like that?" Anabel asked in between breaths as they ran.

"Let's just say the month I showed up in Alola was the first and last time I ticked her off that year." Ash put simply as they ran through the East Wing double doors.

They ducked into a corridor and ran down a hall until they came to one of the many rooms with double doors. Ash and Anabel ran straight through them, disappearing from Lillie's sight. The pale girl immediately ran in after them, just a few seconds behind them.

As she ran in, she slowed down and took in what she was seeing. This place had a plethora of Grass and Bug types around. The area was suited for them, as she noticed it contained a large amount of shrubbery and forestry with a small pond as well.

Lillie stood in wonderment and awe when she looked around. "It's beautiful..."

Meanwhile, Ash and Anabel were behind a few trees. Ash was barely peeking around the corner and moved back, giving a sigh of relief. "I think we're good."

Anabel also smiled. "I told you so."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, let's go to the usual spot. I'm not holding out hope for confronting her right after her anger just died down." He said as they walked away.

Meanwhile, Lillie began wandering aimlessly as she observed the area she was witnessing. She realized that this was a habitat suited for some of Ash's Pokémon. That much was obvious, as some of the Pokémon here were ones she saw at Oak's Corral when they went to see it on the school trip a few years prior. However, she noticed a few of them were very different, like ones she had not recognized. One of them looked to be a weird bug type that reminded her of a Ledyba but it looked like a UFO.

As she wandered around for what felt like half an hour, but was only maybe five minutes, she heard the sounds of a soothing guitar playing somewhere within the area. She followed the sounds until she reached a cavern, where an unusually black Haxorus was blocking the entrance. There was a look on its eyes that the girl could only interpret as "You're not welcome here."

"Let her in Haxorus." A calm voice requested. Lillie turned around to see a young man, around 23 at least, sitting on a Registeel, with two small, gray bodied Pokémon, one with a yellow head, the other with a pink one, sitting on both his shoulders. He was wearing a black trench coat, and a brown jacket and blue jeans were visible. "She's not a murderer."

The Haxorus nodded and shifted aside to allow Lillie inside. However, Lillie wasn't paying much attention to unblocked entrance. The man who was in front of her seemed vaguely familiar to her. "What's your name again?" She asked.

"I thought you were wanting to enter the cavern" He said, with a rather confused look on his face. "To put things simply, I call myself..."

"V" Lillie finished. The name had popped into her mind randomly.

"Well, it looks like you did know my name after all" He said, slightly impressed, while guitar music continued to play in the background. Lillie chose to continue her way towards the cavern.

After walking her way through the cavern, Lillie found herself in an opening in the forest. She saw the girl from before sitting on the grass. But to her surprise, Ash was the one playing the guitar and was sitting up on a log while the girl from before was nodding along, a smile on her face as she listened. She also noticed a serpent like grass type curled up with the pair as Ash played.

He finished a second later, setting the guitar down next to him as he sighed. "I feel much better. What did you think, Serperior?"

"Serrr." The grass snake gave a smile.

"I agree with Serperior. You're getting better." Anabel said.

"You think so, huh?" He turned his head around. "What about you, Lillie?"

Lillie snapped out of her stupor, somewhat surprised that Ash had noticed her walk up. "Uhh... I think it was pretty good."

"Hmm." Ash hummed as he pet his Serperior lightly. "I assume you want answers."

Lillie finally tried to form her glare again, but she stopped doing it as she couldn't bring herself to hold it. 'Why am I not mad anymore?' She thought 'Is it the setting...?'

"That's why we ran out here." Anabel said. "The setting can purge negative emotions from the body, which is why you aren't mad anymore."

Lillie widened her eyes. "How did you know?"

"Your expression." Ash answered for her.

Lillie blinked. "Huh?"

"The way you tried to glare, but you suddenly found that you couldn't. Most people can read body language easily to tell just how a person is feeling and what may be going on in their head." Ash explained.

Lillie scoffed. "And you know that how? You weren't exactly the smartest when I knew you back in Alola."

Anabel giggled at the comment while Ash simply shrugged. "Anabel here taught me."

"Really?" Lillie said in slight surprise. "Even back in Alola, I never pegged you as one to sit still long enough to grasp some things."

Anabel smiled. "Oh, he still isn't. I just know how to deal with his energy."

Ash simply rolled his eyes with a bit of a laugh. "Well, times have changed. And so have I actually."

Lillie looked him over. "So I see. Looks like you grew up these last few years."

Ash nodded. "And so have you. You're different now. I never would've guessed you wanted to challenge the Battle Frontier back when we were in Alola."

"Well, you inspired me. You inspired all of us. Everyone in Alola was hoping you would come back someday and meet with them until... that news article came out."

"Is that so?" Ash asked neutrally. He figured after her angry reaction from before that this topic would come up.

"Of course. But now I want answers." Lillie demanded.

"Then you'll get them. Ask away." He told her.

"Kanto's news center let out an article that had said you died four years ago. Your mother said that your body was not recoverable nor was able to be found and only a small funeral was held. Yet you're right here." She pointed out. "So what happened?"

Ash sighed. "Four years already, huh?" Ash sat up and Anabel put a hand on his shoulder for moral support. "Well... it's a long story."

Lillie took a seat on the ground in front of them. "I've got time."

So Ash chose to do the long version of the story, considering Lillie wasn't planning on going anywhere. The pale teen listened to the story, making sure to catch each detail he mentioned. However, Ash left out a couple of particular details for safety reasons and managed to properly cover it all up, leading to the end of the story.

"-so once I left, my mother decided to report to the police that I died in an accident rather than missing and that my body was unretrievable. Everyone else besides the Oaks and Tracey believed them, but there wasn't anything the others could do without proper evidence to turn the tables. Nothing would change even if I went back."

"But you just said they attempted murder on you! And you're a Frontier Brain now!" Lillie voiced.

Anabel shook her head. "Status doesn't mean as much as you would think in a court of law. Without visual evidence that they even attempted to attack him, then the court would label that as a false claim, which would do nothing. And the death claim wouldn't make Delia look bad cause she said she doesn't technically know where he is, making it more or less a missing person case than a dead person case."

"That's ridiculous." Lillie sighed.

"Well that's just how it goes. That's why I refused to tell anyone else I could trust about me being alive, cause that would put you all at risk. The Battle Frontier is a secretive organization. Not even Goodshow knows as much as Scott or the rest of us do, so it makes it easier for me to hide while still battling." Ash stated.

"So you aren't going to even think about confronting them?! What's the point of doing that? Don't you even want your old life back of traveling?!" Lillie questioned.

"And what will that change? If they found out I was the Castle Guardian, they would try to wreck my new life like they did with my old one. Not only would that ruin me again, but it would cost tons to replace what Scott gave me if they did try to break it all." Ash retorted.

"Yet you would have the satisfaction of seeing them in jail for their crimes. Haven't you heard how famous the others are getting since you left?" Lillie said.

"I saw. It was kind of hard to ignore Max's public call-out on Tobias for cheating by using legendary Pokémon in the Ever Grande Conference after he got his butt kicked in Top 32. He got what was coming to him." Ash commented.

"I heard May won the Hoenn Grand Festival finally and Dawn got runner up in Kanto and Sinnoh against her rival Zoey. Apparently Trip won the Silver conference last year and is prepping for his Elite challenge, Paul was stuck on beating Spencer, so he lost the challenge 2 years ago and took on the Sinnoh Frontier, where he managed to win. Can't say I'm shocked, since we only had 3 colleagues over there at the time, them being Dahlia, Palmer and Thorton. Luckily he refused Scott's offer of being a Frontier Brain." Anabel added.

"Misty is still a gym leader. Big whoop. Brock got his degree, Iris took over the Opelucid Gym from Drayden after he got too old for it, and Cilan and his brothers have gotten top recognition from critics worldwide on their restaurant. Serena became Kalos Queen out of sheer luck, Clemont released the Aipom arm to the public, Bonnie started her journey finally, and my mother got married to someone who I couldn't give a crap about." Ash finished.

Lillie looked genuinely surprised. "Not bad. But what about the Alolan people?" She asked, thinking he forgot.

"Well you're here taking on the Frontier, Sophocles is running a trial for the Electrium Z on Mount Hokulani, Acerola became an Elite 4 member for Alola, Lana is traveling the world taking on fishing competitions, Kiawe finally became a professional choreographer, and Mallow is rated top chef in the Alolan region. Professor is the same as always, your mother woke up from her coma, and Gladion is running the Aether Paradise while Hau is champion right now." Ash answered. "Some of this stuff may be outdated, but that's all I got."

Lillie's eyes were widened slightly. "Huh. You actually did your research."

"Have to be sure nobody's getting too close to finding me. You're the only one outside the Battle Frontier and the nearby town that knows I'm here, excluding the Oaks and Tracey. Now that you know, you can't tell anyone. If you do," He made a serious face. "I'll have to kill you."

Lillie fell backwards and nearly began to crawl away. "WHAT?!"

Ash laughed while Anabel giggled. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But seriously, you can't tell anyone I'm alive at all."

Lillie rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You're making this sound like it's a big deal."

"It is."

Lillie turned to Anabel. "You let something slip to the others, suddenly they let it slip, the wrong person hears it, they tell the media, the media makes a story, Ash's mother and the others find out, and they try to come after him. 

"It may not be perfectly accurate, but it's more than likely to happen if you go tell anyone. And, it's going to put Ash at risk." A voice said, while a few Clunks could be heard in the background.

Ash nodded. "You're right V. I may be strong, but I can't take them all at once even with all my Pokémon. Heck, Anabel and I together would still struggle. You could do a little better, but I'm not so sure. They have just as many Pokémon, if not, more than us if they have some of my old ones. And Misty and Brock have Keystones, and I could probably guess some of the others have one too."

Lillie looked down, realizing what the pair was trying to imply. "Oh... I see."

Ash smiled sadly. "I'm sorry Lil. It's just the way it has to be. I don't want anyone caught in the crossfire because I was reckless and thought I was unbeatable. A mindset like that can only lead to disaster for the people around you, good or bad."

Anabel shrugged. "Well at least you have the Arc Tournament Scott is forcing us to go to."

V groaned slightly.

"Yeah, I could run into Iris, Misty, Clemont, or Cilan, but I won't hold my breath for the others." Ash stated as he laid back on the grass.

Lillie looked at the pair. "Wait, Scott is making the Brains go to the Arc Tournament?"

"Yeah. A publicity stunt to make people come after the Frontier more and attempt to take it on. If we think they are suited for the Frontier, we give them an invite. After all, Scott did that for you, didn't he?"

Lillie nodded. "Yeah, but isn't being selected more difficult than that?"

"It is. But us Brains know what to look for in an individual. We search for talent, skill, and bond between Trainer and Pokémon" V stated.

After all, we are meant to challenge a person to dive further into themselves and try to find their own unique way of battling while also trying to bridge the gap between people and Pokémon more. Scott trusts us to find the right people." Anabel said.

Lillie gave a confusing glance to Anabel. "Wait, you're a Frontier Brain? Then which brain are you?"

Ash grinned. "She's the one right after me!"

"And I'm the one after her!" V laughed.

Lillie fell backwards again. "Wait what!?"

Anabel giggled a bit at Lillie. "I guess Ash forgot to mention that part." She said as Serperior slithered up to Lillie and nudged her back up.

Ash rose an eyebrow. "In my defense, I didn't want to give it away yet, but what about you? You could have chimed in at any point."

Anabel smirked. "I would have, but she was too busy chasing us around because of you." She joked, making Lillie flush crimson in slight embarrassment.

Ash sat up. "That's beside the point. Anyways, for a proper introduction, this is Anabel, the Salon Maiden of the Battle Tower. She's number 7." He introduced. "And Anabel, I've already told you about Lillie."

Lillie smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you miss Anabel."

Anabel shook her head. "Oh don't worry about formalities. We're the same age. And any friend of Ash's is a friend of mine."

"And this is V, the Chain Owner of the Battle Chain. He's number 8. Some of his friends call him the Tamer of Legends because of his skill and chances of catching Legendary Pokémon." Ash finished.

"We've met before Lillie." V said, getting off of Registeel.

"And to answer your earlier question, yes." Anabel said "We are entering the Arc Tournament. I assume you got an invite after your top 8 at the Indigo conference and top 4 at the Silver conference?"

Lillie rose her eyebrow. "Wait, how did you... never mind." She muttered. "Yeah I'm going. My mother told me about the letter I got after I faced Tucker. Hau is going to be there along with the Kahunas and Elites."

Ash nodded. "Hmm. Well I still don't want you to tell the others about me. They can find out on their own."

Lillie honestly wanted to argue with him, but the thought of seeing the others' faces when they saw Ash alive made her decide otherwise. "Alright. I'll respect your wishes. But I want to battle you again in the tournament. Especially after you knocked some sense into me. I want to give you a true battle instead of that landslide from earlier."

Ash shook his head. "Lillie, it wasn't a bad match. Yeah it was slow at first, but you got better over time."

Anabel agreed. "You just need to have more confidence in the face of danger. Just because one strategy doesn't work doesn't mean others won't. That's why Ash is so good at what he does."

"He comes up with the most obscure strategies with his team and he knows they will work purely because of the faith he has in his team and in himself." V said.

"I noticed." Lillie admitted as she pulled her knees to her chest. "I've always lacked confidence when I work with my Pokémon. I don't know why." She muttered. "I know I can do better, and I've seen that I can. But at the end of the day, I still struggle. And I don't know why."

Ash, Anabel, and V exchanged glances and nodded to each other. "Then let us help you."

Lillie's head shot up. "Wait, what did you say?"

"We'll help you try and get over your confidence issue before the Tournament. That is, if you want us to."

Lillie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Yeah... of course I want to work with you both. But I didn't think you would want to. You're top class trainers with your own priorities, so..." She hesitated.

"That doesn't mean you just put us up higher than you. Only arrogant and cocky trainers expect that." Anabel told her. "And besides, we're the Battle Frontier. Our first priority is to help trainers find the strength to get over their own hurdles."

"Provided we've got a week until the Arc Tournament, we should be able to do this." V said. Well, unless I've got to check on the construction on the Battle Chain or something else to do."

"Yeah, but... oh whatever." She relented, not trusting herself to finish her thoughts. "So do you have a healing station or anything for my Pokémon? I should've asked that earlier." Lillie stated.

"Of course. Come on, I'll patch them up." Ash told her, getting up in the process.

. . . . . . . .

Lillie was yet again amazed at how much Ash had changed. Not only did he know how to operate a healing station, but he also knew how to move around the Battle Castle without getting lost.

The sheer size of the place amazed her in many ways, as she never expected it to have so many rooms with so many specific uses. Not only were there rooms for traveling trainers, but there were places for Ash's Pokémon, a bedroom for Ash to stay in, a cinema room, a healing station room, and even other rooms she doesn't know of.

Ash even has an office. The kid who never sits still that is Ash Ketchum has his own office!

Lillie watched in amazement as Ash and Anabel went to work, healing her Pokémon like you would see a Nurse Joy going about it. It's ironic. She always thought that the ones that healed her Pokémon like that would be breeders or scientists or nurses. But seeing powerful battlers like these two do it with little or no trouble, her entire understanding on the subject changed.

It just goes to show how much knowledge she still lacks, no matter the amount of books she reads. No words can substitute real life experiences.

"Alright Lillie. They're good."

The Alola native came down from her thoughts as Ash and Anabel were releasing the Pokémon from the healing stations. She smiled as her Pokémon came up to her, all looking very happy and just as healthy as they did before the match. She knelt down and picked up Flareon.

"Sorry that I wasn't more careful Flareon. I lost my cool during that battle." She said, which provoked a happy cry from her Fire type.

Ash nodded, satisfied with the result. "Looks like everything is better now."

"Yeah." Anabel agreed before noticing that Lillie seemed to be fairly occupied with her Pokémon. "So do you want to go grab Lucario and Mienshao and pick up where we left off a few hours ago?"

Ash shrugged. "Yeah. We never got very far in that session, so we might as well get some extra work in."

"I've got a report to finish. See you in ten minutes?" V asked.

The pair nodded before beginning to leave, which Lillie took no notice of. Once they exited the door, they walked down the brightly lit hall and into another set of mahogany doors, which they opened up and stepped inside.

The area they had just entered was a mountain style area with a few cave areas that seemed to go far down underground. A few rock, fighting, fire, dragon, and ground types were roaming around the area while a few flying types soared around. A few of them were even racing each other around the area. A turquoise, lizard-like and torpedo-like dragon surveyed the chaos.

Ash cleared his throat and called out. "Hey Lucario. We're done with the battle. It's time to pick it back up again."

"Mienshao, you too." Anabel added.

Ash's Lucario, who was talking with Charizard, Sceptile, and Staraptor, quickly dismissed his conversation and ran to his master. Anabel's Mienshao, who was meditating on a rock, quickly followed suit.

They left the habitat and walked a few doors down to the right. They stepped inside a room that Ash had built for a number of his fighting types to have close hand to hand combat with only close quarter moves allowed in the area. Sporting a wooden floor, white walls, a battlefield outline with mats as the base, and a few seats, it helped the fighting types stay focused when under the guidance of their trainers. He mainly called this the Dojo room, and every time he had to help develop a fighting type's style of combat, he brought them in here.

And right now was no exception. Ash and Anabel stood on one side while their Pokémon stood across from each other, staring each other down.

"Alright, we want to pick up where we left off earlier today. No moves, close quarters, dodging and blocking allowed. If possible to grab and get inside the guard, then take the opportunity." Ash stated.

"Remember, since you are both battling partners, you need to find each others strengths and weaknesses. So try and find them quickly and exploit them. If you can, then you have a better understanding of what the other can do and what they will want to do in the middle of the battle. The idea is to try and get inside each others heads and predict your strategy." Anabel added on.

Ash rose his hand up. "Ready..."

The fighting types tensed up. Ash threw his hand down. "Begin."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lillie was still talking with her Pokémon when she finally noticed the emptiness of the room. "Wait, did they leave?"

All of her Pokémon nodded, which made Lillie sigh a bit. "They could've at least waited." She said while pulling out three Poke Balls. "Return for now." All of her Pokémon were absorbed into the red spherical devices as she left the room.

As she walked out, a thought crossed her mind that made her immediately stop moving.She realized they could be anywhere in this castle. "How am I supposed to find them? This place is the size of Sylph Co. in Saffron." She wondered with light amounts of annoyance.

Then suddenly she heard a noise from down the hall. She saw a door partially open that looked like it lead to a training room, and some lights were on in it as well. "That probably makes more sense." She muttered.

Lillie moved into the room and immediately figured out what was going on. She was viewing a fighting type sparring session between a Lucario and a Mienshao. Ash and Anabel were calm, eyes trained on the pair as they continued to fight in a battle that seemed almost like a dance to her.

She stayed silent for a bit, watching the two move and fight in a determined manner, not letting the other gain any form of ground on them. She had trouble seeing some movements with just how fast they were fighting. This went on until finally, the Mienshao stepped into Lucario's guard and pushed him back a few steps with a simple palm thrust

Ash and Anabel nodded in content. "Not bad, you two. Take a break, and Lucario, let me explain what happened with that step-in real quick. I saw your look of shock when Mienshao did that."

Ash stepped over to the side with Lucario and began talking real quick. Anabel was congratulating Mienshao until she noticed Lillie standing there with her jaw open. Anabel smiled and waved her to walk in. "Don't just stand there. You're not interrupting anything."

Lillie stepped in, but her movements were slow as her mind raced to try and process what she had just witness come out of those fighting types. She had never seen such speed and fluid motion with fighting types before, which included the Fighting Dojo. She walked up to Anabel, expression still displaying shock. "Wow..."

Anabel laughed at that. "That wasn't anything special. Just a bit of light sparring."

"But the way they moved. It wasn't anything like I've seen before. That almost seemed better than the Fighting Dojo." Lillie praised.

Anabel just shrugged. "Well, we have a couple of friends that have good experience when training Fighting Type Pokémon. So I guess while we're on the topic, is there any particular type of training do you think you need help with?" She asked. "Confidence in yourself is a big issue, but it is also necessary to try and help your Pokémon while you're training as well."

Lillie thought for a second. "Well a start would be I guess helping with my Hitmonchan. I don't have a lot of experience with Fighting types. I kept practicing with him on a few drills the dojo showed me, but I don't have many ideas."

Anabel thought for a second. "I think Ash and I can help a bit. Send him out."

Lillie released the Punching Pokémon, who looked around at the room in wonderment. "Hey Hitmonchan. My friends here said they want to help you out a bit. You ok with that?"

Hitmonchan rose it's left fist up and let out a yell. "Chan!"

"He's in. Let me grab Ash. Mienshao go grab some water." She told her Pokémon, who nodded in response and walked away from them, towards a water fountain in the corner.

This action confused Lillie, but she let it go as they walked towards Ash and Lucario, who were going over something seemingly important.

"You are an offensive based Pokémon, despite being a steel-type. But you need a sturdy guard as well. While your guard is very strong, there are some gaps in your fighting style that can be taken advantage of when you put so much focus on your offensive style. Try to keep that in mind and not throw out a move that you can't cover for unless you see the right opportunity and know you have to take it. That one sloppy jab you threw out towards Mienshao's side is what let her net a step inside your guard. You got it?" He asked Lucario, who nodded. "Good."

"Hey Ash, Lillie wants us to help with her Hitmonchan." Anabel called to him.

Ash looked over and nodded. He pointed Lucario over to the fountain in the corner where Mienshao is and walked over onto the battlefield with Lillie and Anabel.

Ash frowned to himself. "Alright, so I think a good idea would be to test Hitmonchan's capabilities. So let's do a quick sparring match and see what he's got."

Lillie looked over at Lucario and Mienshao. "But your fighting types are at the water fountain. How are you going to do a sparring match if they're taking a break?"

Ash and Anabel somewhat ignored her question as they took to the opposite end of the field, where Ash handed his hat to Anabel. "Anabel, you get on the side and watch on the outside, I'll take this first one myself."

Lillie's eye twitched. Was Ash serious? Fighting a Fighting type in close quarters alone?

"Ash, don't be an idiot! You're not a Pokémon!" Lillie yelled at him. "Just get one of your fighting types."

Ash threw his vest off and tossed his white longsleeve off, revealing a black muscle shirt. He took a fighting stance and nodded. "Don't worry about me Lil. I'm sturdier than I look. He can go all out if he wants to. Anabel, count it down."

Lillie was about to try and stop them, but Anabel had risen her hand. "Ready... go!"

Hitmonchan simply rushed Ash quickly, thinking he had the match in the bag against a human. He formed a quick Ice Punch and lunged at Ash. He swung for the Castle Guardian's face, sure that this would take no trouble.

But Ash held the title 'Castle Guardian' for a reason.

Ash sidestepped and dodged the punch with surprising speed, shocking both Lillie and Hitmonchan. He then grabbed the arm and judo flipped Hitmonchan over his shoulder, throwing him to the ground and placing a foot on his chest while still holding the arm.

"Overconfidence is anyone's downfall." Ash said sagely. "And this is no exception."

Lillie then widened her eyes in realization. "That was a lot like the move Scizor used on Flareon! But how-"

"I taught it to Scizor. Of course I know it." Ash cut her off.

"You... taught... huh...?" Lillie couldn't make out the words after what he just said.

Ash stepped off Hitmonchan and took his position again. "I can fight better than you think. Now next time, don't play like you know you'll win. Play like you want to win."

Hitmonchan got up and rushed Ash again. This time he made sure not to just try and hit Ash like before. He made sure to get in close and use Close Combat. But once again, the Guardian's title preceded him.

Ash blocked the initial hit and began exchanging moves with the Punching Pokémon. Ash dodged and blocked all of Hitmonchan's attacks while he kept reversing Hitmonchan's hits away from him, making the Fighting type angry, but all the more determined to land a hit.

Finally, Hitmonchan went for a quicker hit than he normally did, which Ash still blocked, but he launched another one that caught Ash in the chest, pushing him back a bit before Ash roundhouse kick knocked Hitmonchan to the ground.

"I think I got the gist of it now." Ash brushed the dust off of him. "Lillie, I want you to listen to this too, ok?" The girl in question nodded, still in slight shock after what Ash did.

"Hitmonchan is a boxing Pokémon. In it's broadest term, boxing is a refined form of fighting primarily with your fists in close quarters combat. That being said, there are many styles of boxing." Ash looked at Hitmonchan. "What you're trying to do is more of a brawler based style. Very straightforward and simple, but also very predictable and very easy to get around without the proper endurance and defense training. So there are several solutions to this. One of them is to take on the style that I saw you attempt a bit of when fighting against me, which is the in-fighter style: A style that relies on speed to deliver fast flurries of punches along with ducking and dodging through attacks to get hits in."

"Or we could let you continue to use this style, but you would need a lot of training in endurance and defense so that you don't get knocked around so easily." Anabel finished. "It's your call. Both sides have ups and downs however, so it's up to you on which side you want. You got that?"

The Fighting type nodded. Anabel then took off her jacket to reveal a black tank top. "Alright, I want a go now."

It was then Lillie did a double take and finally couldn't take it anymore. "ALRIGHT, HOLD ON!"

Everyone froze for a second as she finally started to talk. "How can you guys both fight Fighting types like that? I've never heard of anyone that does that!"

Ash and Anabel exchanged glances. "Well, if we train personally with our Pokémon, then we need to know how to fight, right?" Ash asked rhetorically.

Lillie gawked at them. "You... YOU FIGHT WITH YOUR POKEMON!?"

Anabel nodded. "Yeah. If we want to understand what they are having trouble with in their fighting style, then sometimes we need to take the initiative and step in. So we train and work personally with them to figure out what's wrong." The Salon Maiden told her. "It's a style that those two friends I brought up earlier showed us. It's a way that this one dojo all the way out in the Galar region teaches their students, and we picked up on it. V also helped us master it."

Lillie slumped and fell onto the floor. "You guys are crazy..."

Ash shrugged. "Well at least it's effective. Trust me, if your Pokémon have difficulties along the road, then they need to know how to grow past them. If they can't and you don't know how to help them, then how are either you going to get stronger?"

Once again, Lillie knew he was right. She simply wondered why she never thought of this herself.

"This is going to be a long week..." She muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay (there was none). I was busy for the last few days for a competition, meaning that I couldn't focus too much onto the story. I've also been busy on my YouTube channel, recording a Clutch moment in Dynamax Adventures. You can view it here, at [REDACTED]
> 
> Otherwise, the mysterious person from the first chapter is revealed. He'll have larger roles later on in the story. Thanks for reading!


	4. The Unknown

Of course, Lillie was correct. The week was incredibly long, but the amount of learning that took place for both her and her Pokémon was surprising.

She had finally managed to grab the concepts of fighting close with her Pokémon, and with their limited time frame, Ash and Anabel had taught her some fighting concepts and exercises so she could actually do this type of personal training with her own Pokémon as well. Not to mention that much of this personal work helped her gain confidence in herself as a trainer. Unfortunately, the time frame was very cramped, due to interruptions from V, who was test-flying his prototype drone. He was an awful flyer, and by half of the week, had smashed it, which would always surprise Lillie's Pokémon.

And now, for her own reasons, she switched from her current dress that she had changed into back in Alola, and decided to wear a light blue t-shirt, and a white hooded fleece over it with a pair of jeans and her current boots she has been wearing. Ash asked her why earlier, but she only said it's to show the amount of change she has undergone since Alola.

Now on the day that the tournament was supposed to begin, the group of three, one, a trainer, two, high ranking Frontier Brains (V had already left for the tournament, due to League Officials needing his skills as a technician), were prepared to leave and fight in the Arc Tournament. They don't know what challenges lay ahead, but they were completely sure that they prepared for this tournament to the best of their abilities and that was all that they can hope.

After gathering their Pokémon, Ash did a final check on the castle and locked up the place, not wanting anyone sneaking in while he was gone. He turned around to Lillie and Anabel, who were preparing their flying Pokémon for the travel to Indigo Plateau.

"Alright, you all set?" Ash asked the pair.

Lillie picked up her bag and nodded, putting it over her shoulders. "Yeah, I am ready."

"Same here." Anabel said as she put her bag on also.

Ash nodded and flashed up his watch. "Noivern, time to fly."

"Togekiss, let's go." Anabel declared.

"Altaria, come on out!" Lillie tossed up a Poke Ball.

Ash and Pikachu hopped onto Noivern, Lillie hopped onto her Altaria and Anabel climbed onto her Togekiss as they took off for the tournament. Lillie sighed as she looked back at the Battle Castle and turned her head back forward, prepared and even more determined to face whatever was in their way no matter how hard.

. . . . . . . .

The Indigo Plateau is one of the most important places in competitive battling history. When Kanto first established their Pokémon gym circuit, they needed an end goal for beating all of the gyms. Not just anybody should be able to fight the Elite Four and Champion after collecting all eight badges after all. The strength gap between Elite Four and Gym Leaders is as large as a chasm, not to mention the Champion that resides above them all.

So in the end, Charles Goodshow came up with the solution. He decided to make a League Conference to test trainers that had managed to complete the gym circuit, and the winner would be able to earn the right to challenge the Elite Four and Champion of the Kanto Region. At first, people were not sure that this would be received well, but in the end, the higher ups decided to give Goodshow's idea a shot and announced the first Indigo League Conference.

Not only was the conference so well received by the public, but it also gave Elite Four members much more time besides sitting at their battle arenas and waiting for the next challenger to come and face them, only to find out that those challengers severely underestimated them. Charles would later earn a promotion from this idea and soon rise to the top of the Pokémon League Association, becoming the director and holding that position for many years.

And that was what resulted in the Arc Tournament. Goodshow knows he can't live forever, so sooner or later he will have to retire. But before he decided to give up the position, he decided that he wanted to gather the greatest trainers from all over the world and have them fight it out in a tournament of the masses to find out who the greatest trainer of them all happens to be.

And what better place to have it take place than on the location of where he first created one of the major staples of the gym challenge.

Upon arriving at the Plateau, Ash and the others quickly looked around for a proper place to land. The crowd around the plateau was huge, which did not give them a lot of leeway for landing zones. However, after some time, they finally located a spot just by the Pokémon Center.

As they got close to the landing zone, Ash quickly noticed Scott and the others out by the front of the Pokémon Center, clearly waiting patiently. He looked at Anabel. "Told you they would be waiting on us."

Anabel frowned. "I told Scott to go ahead and rent out the rooms early, but he never does."

Lillie looked at all the figures down there. "Are they all Frontier Brains?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, those are the current members of the Sinnoh and Kanto branches. You'll know most of them, but the Sinnoh Brains, you probably won't and Brandon will probably scare you."

Lillie rose an eyebrow. "Scare me?"

Pikachu, on Ash's shoulder, snickered knowingly while Ash just shrugged. "You'll see."

As they landed in a good spot, all three of them jumped off of their flying Pokémon, thanking them for the ride as they stepped off of them. The other Brains noticed the group and approached them, letting Scott speak first. "Hey you two. Late as ever, huh?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I broke that habit a year after I joined." He groaned.

Everyone else laughed while the Pyramid King looked off towards a blonde teen standing with the pair. "And she is?"

Scott took it. "Oh, this is Lillie, Ash's latest challenger. How did that go by the way?"

"I won. Though it should have been closer."

Scott accepted that answer. "And the report?"

Ash pulled the papers out of his bag and handed them to Scott, who skimmed them over. "Wow, now I wish I was there. Why are your battles with challengers so interesting?"

Ash shrugged. "Can't really tell you. But I knew this battle would be one of my more interesting battles."

Scott rose an eyebrow, to which Ash answered. "She is an old friend from Alola. She has definitely improved since I last saw her."

Scott agreed with him. "Yeah, she knew what she was doing in the conferences. For only her first two conferences and to place so high, she was one to invite for the challenge."

Brandon stepped closer and looked said girl over, then looked over at her Altaria. "You share a strong bond with your Pokémon."

Lillie smiled. "Thank you. I-"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"AAAAHHHH!"

Lillie jumped out of her skin at the loud and sudden declaration from the Pyramid King. She looked at Brandon like he was crazy. The man had shifted from neutral to a stern expression after his yell.

"There is no need to tell me about your bond. Show me by making it to the Battle Pyramid and facing me!" He almost demanded.

Lillie nodded quickly, not wanting him to shout again. "I will."

Pikachu cracked up on Ash's shoulder while Ash went to speak with the other Brains, Anabel and V following close behind. They first stepped up to the Pyramid King, wanting to get into a conversation with the normally stern Ruins Expert. Lillie was about to follow along when Scott stopped her.

"Don't you have other friends you were expecting?" Scott asked while gesturing behind him.

Lillie looked through the window of the Pokémon Center, not sure what to expect. But as she did, she was shocked to see all of her Alolan friends in there lined up to register for the Arc Tournament.

She started turning to Scott. "How did you..."

Suddenly, he was busy talking to Ash, V and Brandon. Lillie frowned in confusion. 'Is everyone in the Frontier crazy?'

As she walked away from them, Ash, Anabel and Brandon talked to each other somewhat. "I'm guessing you took time to take her under your wing, am I correct?"

Ash nodded in response. "Sharp as ever. She was having confidence issues in herself as a trainer, so Anabe, V, and I helped to try and make her gain some more confidence."

Brandon nodded in approval. "Her bond between her and that Altaria looks quite powerful. And I can sense how sure of herself she is. All of you did your jobs well."

The trio smiled. "Thanks Brandon." They said as the Pyramid King went over to speak with Spenser.

Scott smiled at his top three brains. There was a reason these three are his best after all. He decided to walk away from the pair as well, taking the opportunity to question Greta about her latest challenger.

Ash, Anabel, and V, meanwhile, were just standing there, deciding who they should catch up with. "So which one? We haven't talked with them in a little bit." Ash told the both of them.

Anabel hummed, while V shrugged. "Maybe Lucy?"

"I guess. Alright then. Let's-"

"Master, I'm telling you. You didn't have to come see us off."

"Yeah. We appreciate the thought, but aren't you missing out on training the other dojo students?"

Ash tilted his head towards the voiced he heard. "Wait a second..."

The trio turned around to find three individuals fairly close to them. One of them was old and had a white goatee. He had on a green jacket with a black and green hat to match and wore white sweatpants underneath. The other was a blonde guy with short hair who wore black pants with a familiar red jacket. The last one was a brunette girl who had her hair in a bun with the front of it left undone along with the sideburns. Her outfit consisted of a yellow dojo jacket with a black emblem on the left side and a white sash around the waist, black shorts, white shoes and gloves.

"It is them!" Ash exclaimed.

The old man chuckled. "How could I not come and see off two of my students as they compete in the tournament of the century?" He exclaimed. "I see no major problem with it. Besides, my wife is keeping the other students on their toes."

"If you say so." The brunette stated.

"We really appreciate your time in helping us prepare for the Arc Tournament, master." The blonde one stated. "We promise to make you proud."

The old man shook his head with a smile. "You already have." He mumbled. "The others and I will be watching you both. So good luck and do your best. Keep your bonds firm and don't give in until the end."

Both teens took a respectful bow with their right fist pressed into their left palm. "We promise. Thank you, master."

The master bowed with them. "You're very welcome. We'll see you both soon." The old man then stood up and walked away from them both, leaving the pair behind to look at each other with smiles.

"Gloria! Callum!"

Both individuals turned their heads towards the source of the voice, which just so happened to be Ash alongside Anabel and V. The three brains walked up to the duo with smiles on their faces. "It's been so long!"

The brunette, also known as Gloria exchanged a hug with V, before stepping back and smiling. "About a year now, hasn't it?" She mused. "It's great to see you both again."

"Yeah, no kidding. Some friendly faces would definitely do us some good in this tournament." Callum exclaimed.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu lunged from Ash's shoulder and landed in Gloria's arms, which made the Galarian trainer giggle lightly.

"We didn't forget about you, Pikachu." She promised and started to pet the Electric type, making him coo in delight.

Gloria Hearthstone and Callum Bale. Two trainers from the faraway Galar region. Both 16 and 17 respectively, the duo have been students of the dojo in the Isle of Armor for a little over a year and a half. This happened right after Gloria lost the champion battle against Leon, the Galar champion, despite her older brother, who was V, had given her his best advice. Callum, meanwhile, had been forced to move to Unova three years before Gloria lost to Leon, and had managed to go all the way to Alder in the Unova champion challenge at 13, where he lost and decided to become a Pokémon Ranger while also stay as a trainer at the same time, where he would go on to become the Miracle Maker for his skills at healing Pokémon.

The duo are two of the youngest battlers to push the champions to the great lengths that they did. However, even though they are young and powerful all at the same time, many people have forgotten what they have accomplished. Leon got all the limelight at the end of the battle and Gloria was left forgotten as she tended to her Pokémon alone with only her brother and mother bothering to condole her, and Callum had gotten so wrapped up in Ranger work that people gradually forgot about his battle with Alder.

So in the end, the two trainers, who have known each other since they were children, decided to focus on getting stronger away from the spotlight since they were no longer in it to begin with. They went to the Isle of Armor and stayed there, training under the guidance of Master Mustard, a former Galar champion. Nobody close to Gloria knew that she went with Callum besides Gloria's mother, who promised to keep silent on the matter for her daughter's sake, not even telling it to V, in case he let something slip.

And that would be where Ash and Anabel met them. During Ash's time training, Anabel decided to take him to Galar so he could see what the new region was like and maybe catch some new Pokémon (V didn't go, due to some other things he had to do). They ended up going to the Isle of Armor and learned to do personal practice with their Pokémon thanks to the Galarian duo, their teacher, and V (who initially was there for delivery tasks, but his friends had persuaded to stay).

And that meeting was what sparked a strong friendship and fierce rivalry between the four of them, and of course, V was not included.

However, that stay did force V to reveal his life story. Victor Hearthstone, called by those outside of Galar as "V," had meant to leave on his Pokémon journey at age 15, but did so 5 years earlier to avoid getting continually picked on by classmates. Even though he was merely a beginner, he managed to defeat all 8 Gyms with barely any difficulty at all. Despite this, he only managed to tie in the match against Leon, and would get the same result for the next five years. After training in the Master Dojo for only a week, he (under the alias "V") had began to battle and claim first place in other Conferences, except the Manalo Conference, as he always was busy. A year after all that, he was hired to investigate a few clubs in Kanto before finding that they were crime rings and shutting them down with the help of a Giratina he had caught in the Crown Tundra, as well as one of his former classmates. He didn't have anything interesting left to do except for being a delivery person, help his younger sister, and catching Mesprit and Uxie until receiving an invite to the Battle Frontier. Victor's entire life had changed with the single invite. He moved to Kanto, beat the Frontier, became a Frontier Brain, and built his home, The Bridge, and his Battle Facility, the Battle Chain. He would continue his activities in Kanto, as well get into some smallll rivalries with his cousins. Later on, he would rescue Ash and Anabel, and in a few years' time, meet up with Gloria again and help his two colleagues master numerous battle styles. And that was basically his simplified life story. Back to the present.

"How have you two been?" Ash asked them with Pikachu climbing back up on Ash's shoulder.

"We're doing great." Gloria stated joyfully. But then her expression turned sour. "But whether it stays that way remains to be seen."

Anabel frowned for a second before she rose an eyebrow. "Leon and his brother. They got invited, didn't they?"

Callum sighed. "Them and the gym leaders of Galar were all invited." He muttered. "That lot still puts a bad taste in my mouth for ignoring Gloria like that. Especially Leon and Hop."

Ash glowered at that. "Yeah. I understand how you feel."

Callum rose an eyebrow. "Them too?"

"A few of them are gym leaders." V informed them.

Both Galar trainers gave wry smiles. "Guess we all have our work cut out for us, don't we?"

V shrugged while Ash lightly chuckled at that. "Guess so."

"Hey Ash! Anabel! V!" The Frontier Brains turned around and saw Scott calling out at them. "We're going to register. Come on!"

The three looked back at the Galarian duo who shook their heads. "We already registered. The two of us are going to take some alone time before the ceremony." Gloria told them.

"You two go have fun. We'll catch up with you after the prelims are over." Callum added.

Ash and Anabel nodded at the pair with smiles on their faces and waved them off as Callum and Gloria disappeared into the crowd.

Meanwhile with Lillie, the Alola native walked inside the Pokémon Center quickly, but decided to test her friends and see if they would be able to tell it was her. She pulled the hoodie up just to make things interesting and walked up behind Hau and the others.

"Alright. Everything is set now, so you all have your rooms. Here are your room keys and good luck in the tournament."

"Thanks Nurse Joy!" Hau said with his usual enthusiasm.

He turned around and began to walk away, but Lillie deliberately made it seem like he ran into her and Lillie fell backwards.

Hau was rubbing his head. "Oww. Sorry about that miss. I wasn't careful enough."

Lillie almost laughed, but held it together and rose the pitch in her voice. 'He hasn't noticed yet?' "It's ok sir, I was in my own head. It's not your fault." She told him lightly.

She saw Hau raise an eyebrow. "Wait, do I know you?"

Lillie shrugged as she stood up. "I don't know, do you?"

She stole a glance at the others and saw that only a couple of them had put it together. One of which happened to be her brother, who was smirking to himself while watching Hau. Mallow also seemed to realize it was her and was silently giggling to herself off to the side. The others were simply clueless to the interaction.

Hau didn't notice anything either. Instead, he was trying to recognize where he heard that voice from. "I think we met before. In Alola."

Lillie played it off. "I haven't been there recently. I've been traveling Kanto and Johto these last few years."

Hau gave up thinking. "Well if you say so."

He almost walked off, but Gladion and Mallow bursted out laughing at the display. Hau, lost as ever, had no clue what was happening. Instead, he looked at his elites and frowned. "What did I do?"

"Don't look at me." Acerola mumbled. "I don't know either." Olivia shrugged as well while Hala simply frowned.

"Alright, fine. I'll stop."

All of them turned and saw Lillie pull her hood down. Immediately as he saw her face, he facepalmed in humiliation. "I'm so stupid." He groaned. "How did I not realize it?" The others in the back were thinking the same thing to themselves.

Mallow jumped at her best friend and engulfed her in a tight hug that Lillie had a hard time breathing in. "It's been so long!"

"Mallow, I can't breathe!" Lillie wheezed.

The green haired girl let go of Lillie after hearing that, and Lillie finally started gasping to regain the air in her lungs. "That was close." She panted.

The others laughed again while Lillie managed to straighten herself out and look at the others again with a bright smile on her face. "It's been a while, everyone. How are all of you?"

Everyone said their share of "Good's" and "Great's" while Lillie made sure to catch up with them all. Unbeknownst to the rest of them, the Frontier crew was walking in towards the front desk, preparing to register. And luckily for Ash, he had noticed the Alolans were there and stayed within the large mass of the group to stay hidden.

"Hey Nurse Joy. I came to register my Frontier Brains for the Tournament and get the rooms straightened out if that's alright." Scott stated.

Nurse Joy nodded. "I'll have them entered in a moment. So what will the room arrangements be?"

Scott eyed his group of Frontier Brains and placed a hand on his chin. "Brandon and Palmer can go together, Caitlin wanted her and her battler Darach share a room, so I won't stop them, Lucy and Greta can room, Noland and Thorton should be fine, Dahlia and Argenta said they would be alright. Spencer, are you and Tucker ok with rooming with each other?"

The Palace Maven and Dome Ace nodded. "Alright, so I guess that leaves Ash, Anabel, and V. Wasn't my original plan, but it works."

Nurse Joy entered the info and pulled out a few room keys. "Here are your room keys. All of you are staying on the reserved floor for Brains on floor 16 of the hotel. We hope you enjoy your stay and good luck."

Scott handed everyone their room keys. "Alright, the ceremony is starting at seven. All Brains, Gym Leaders, Kahunas, Elites, and Champions get by's on the first round, so you just enjoy yourselves or do some extra training for two days, but make sure to show at the ceremony."

Everyone nodded and took off to their own places. Ash and Anabel, after sending Pikachu and Espeon out with the room key, simply decided to grab some lunch and then go spend some time shopping. Normally Ash, like most guys, would not want to go shopping with Anabel, but Anabel was, compared to the other girls he's met, not really shopper. Ash is ok with helping Anabel shop since she never goes overboard and usually doesn't like having Ash carry all of the bags by himself. V, on the other hand, was a shopping fanatic. He would usually go to the store usually three times a week.

But besides the point, they were hungry. After waiting to see if the restaurant would let them in, they sat down at a booth and ordered from the menu. Ash took Chicken Alfredo with a side of soup, Anabel took a Caesar Salad, and V took a few potatoes.

Once the waiter left, Ash started talking. "So if we are going shopping, then what shop were you planning on hitting first."

"Well, they have a Mega Stone shop out in the center. Normally they would be expensive, but they are having a sale, so I want to see if we can grab an Alakazite if they have one."

Ash nodded. "Alright, I might take a look for a Lucarionite as well as a few extra stones. They could come in handy in the later rounds."

Once their food arrived, they quickly ate and left the restaurant for the shopping outlet. But once again, the Alolans were still near the exit. Ash, Anabel, V made for the doors quickly, but another groups voices made them move out of the way.

"Bonnie, come on. We have to sign up."

"Alright, but slow down. You're going too fast."

The two younger trainers ran through the door quickly and ran straight for the front desk. Following along would be the infamous group Ash, Anabel, and V never wanted to run into. Luckily, it seemed as though the pair hadn't made it yet, so as soon as they were sure everyone was out of the way, they booked it through the door quickly and walked the rest of the way to the outlet.

After walking through the outlet mall for a few minutes., they found the Mega Stone shop in a hurry and began to search around. In a few moments, they were leaving the store with their prizes, with V carrying three crates of mega stones.

"That was surprisingly easy."

Ash agreed. "Yeah, but it is only one of 2 shops in the world."

"And where is the other one?" Anabel asked.

Ash pulled up the bag where the company logo was on there. Anabel read the tag out loud. "Kalos, huh? It figures."

"Well anyways, what do you want to do now?" Ash asked.

Anabel shrugged. "Let's just go relax. Except for last week, we really didn't just sit down and relax for a while."

"We didn't have any to do at all." V remarked.

Ash agreed, so the pair quickly took for the forest just off to the side of the Plateau. Nature tends to be one of the more relaxing places for them. After having traveled for so long, Ash still loves hanging out in the woods to relax and enjoy himself. Anabel caught on to the habit after being around Ash for as long as she has.

After arriving in the forest, Ash sat up against a tree and laid back onto it. Anabel sat down next to him and placed her head on his shoulder and scooted in close to him. Ash simply let her do as she pleased, not wanting to be rude. V sat on the other side of the tree, reading a book.

"How long do we have until the ceremony?" Ash asked.

Anabel looked at her watch. "Close to four hours."

Ash sighed and attempted to unwind. "Well, time to relax then."

Both of them sat in the forest for a long time, dozing off together until they heard voices off in the distance approaching fast. Anabel heard them and realized who they were. In a matter of seconds, she pulled a sun hat out of her bag that blocked her face some. Ash simply pulled his cap down his face further, and V placed a fedora onto his head, and shifted slightly, making him look asleep.

"-but if we are going to win, then we need practice for tomorrow." Max exclaimed.

"Max, the first round is tomorrow, and I went all in on training yesterday. My Pokémon should be allowed to rest some." Bonnie argued.

Brock looked over at the two younger kids and sighed inwardly at Max's antics. "She's right. You push your Pokémon too hard, then they won't be able to battle tomorrow."

"I know that, but I want to at least have a battle with someone. I want to fight so bad right now." Max stated.

Paul looked over at the tree Ash, Anabel, and V were sitting under. "Well try one of those two. Surely they can help you not go crazy. If I have to deal with your complaining all day, I'll knock you out before the tournament even starts."

Max nodded somewhat fearfully and ran down to Ash and Anabel. "Hey, can I have a battle with one of you?"

Ash didn't move, but he spoke. "Sorry kid. We're trying to relax before the tournament. Don't want to make me or my Pokémon tired. And you, dear?"

Anabel almost blushed, but saw the 'roll with it' look in Ash's eyes and realized what he was getting at. "No thanks hon. My Pokémon would rather sleep also."

Max fumed at this. Why were people so insistent on not battling? "Chicken much?!"

"No, more like smart. I would not want to make my Pokémon do something that would potentially hurt them before the tournament." Ash scoffed.

"Oh please! I know you're just afraid to lose to me. After all, I was the favorite to win the Ever Grande Conference."

Ash brushed it off. "Kid, the only ones I'm scared to lose to are the champions, elites, and Frontier Brains. You should watch who you brag to. Especially since Tobias was the favorite instead of you."

Max glared. "Don't you dare mention that name!"

Anabel chimed in. "And if I remember correctly, he beat you with only his Darkrai, just like everyone else. Am I right, honey?"

"Yes you are." Ash added.

Max snapped. "That's it! Nobody talks down to me like that!" He pulled out a Poke Ball and prepared to throw it until he heard a voice behind him.

Bonnie came up to the group, wondering what was up with Max's yelling. "What's wrong?"

"They refuse to battle me cause they're scared. Now they think that bringing up Tobias is an excuse not to fight me." Max stated.

Anabel put on as much of a polite voice as she could despite the circumstances. "Are you his friend? We told him we want to rest before the tournament starts, yet he is constantly trying to nag us into battling him."

"Max, let's just go. They aren't worth it." She tried to rationalize with him.

"They refuse to believe that I was the favorite for the Ever Grande Conference!" He yelled in in anger.

"You weren't. I remember reading the headline on that. The favorite was Tobias, and look what happened." Ash stated.

Bonnie sighed. "He has a bad temper. I'm sorry. If you could just fight him so he will stop, then that would be great."

Anabel looked at Ash, who nodded. "Alright, he'll do it. But you have to leave us alone afterwards. Understand?"

"Yeah whatever, let's just do it so I can kick your butt already!" Max demanded.

Ash stepped into one side of the clearing while Max took the other.

"1 on 1 battle, no substitutions, and no switch forcing moves. You good with that?"

Max nodded, to which Ash responded. "Alright. Dear, could you come ref?"

"Sure."

Anabel took the midway point in between Ash and Max, while V stood up to observe the match. "Alright you two, send out your Pokémon."

Ash sent out his Blastoise while Max released his Mightyena. "Ok, Blastoise versus Mightyena. Let the battle begin."

Max smirked. "Use Dark Pulse!" He commanded with a cocky tone.

Ash yawned visibly. "Use Aura Sphere." He said lazily. He knew this battle wouldn't last long.

Both Pokémon let loose blasts of energy straight down the center at each other. The Dark and Fighting type blasts collided, but as types go, the fighting type move overpowered the Dark type move. Aura Sphere blasted straight through Dark Pulse and struck Mightyena hard. The Dark type was launched back a few feet onto his side.

Max widened his eyes. "What!?"

Ash crossed his arms. "You got too antsy kid. You thought you would win in one shot, but this tournament is full of the best of the best. Overconfidence will toss you out of the first round in a heartbeat."

"Shut up! Mightyena, strafe around and use Thunder Fang!" Mightyena stood up and started changing movement patterns while charging electric energy into it's teeth.

"That old trick? Blastoise, use Rapid Spin, then fire a blast of Ice Beam."

Blastoise retracted and started spinning around on it's shell, which made the Thunder Fang fly right off, thus bouncing Mightyena all the way back. Blastoise got up and, while Mightyena was in the air, fired a quick Ice Beam at the Dark type, freezing its legs and part of its body.

When Mightyena fell to the ground hard, Max widened his eyes in shock. "Mightyena!"

"If you have any sympathy for your Pokémon, you will stop the battle now." Ash responded. "I don't want to hurt Mightyena anymore than I have to."

Max grit his teeth in frustration, but his stubbornness won out in the end. "No way!" He yelled. "Mightyena, burn through the ice with Fire Fang!"

Mightyena's mouth caught flames as he attempted to bite at the ice that was inhibiting his movements. It was melting, but not fast enough for Ash to not react.

"I warned you. Finish it with Hydro Cannon." Ash commanded.

Blastoise fired a quick blast of water from the cannon on his back. It struck Mightyena incredibly hard and shot him back towards a tree, knocking him out on impact.

Anabel rose a hand at Mightyena. "Mightyena is unable to battle. Blastoise wins."

Max ran towards Mightyena and started cradling it's head in his arms. "You ok buddy?"

Ash returned his Blastoise. "Guess that's that. Thanks Blastoise."

Ash walked over to Max and Bonnie, who was consoling Max to control his temper next time. Ash sighed inwardly. He honestly expected better from Max with him being related to Norman, but it looks like the battling genes of the family skipped a generation. Max went for straight basics and reckless options, and Ash beat him in 4 moves.

"Hope you learned what I was teaching you."

Max was about to burst, but Bonnie asked nicely. "What would that be?"

Ash smiled wryly. At least Bonnie still had a sense of politeness. "Coming into a battle with a large ego and a fuming temper only leads to disaster if left unchecked. People from around the world are coming here to compete, so if you want to win, then you need to be focused, not cocky."

Max scoffed. "Like I need to take the advice of a cheater!"

"Just like you claimed against Tobias, correct? And didn't you lose that match too?" He poked.

Max scowled at Ash. "Screw you! You're far weaker than me! I know a cheater when I see one!"

Ash fumed at Max's stupidity, and went with a much fiercer tone. "That attitude is the one thing that will knock you out in the first round!" Max jumped at the tone. "If you want any chance at winning here, or anywhere in the battling circuit, I suggest you fix yourself now or just give it up. If you can't break past your own selfish ego and take notice of what is happening around you, then you won't get anywhere."

Max returned his Mightyena and ran off. "You just got LUCKY!"

After he was out of sight, Bonnie sighed. "He's been like this for years now. Yet I felt like the only one who seemed to know that this will ruin him."

"Unfortunate that such a battler has to behave this way." Anabel stated with a light sigh.

She turned up to Ash and Anabel. "Well, maybe this will teach him to get over himself, but I won't hold my breath. Thanks for shutting him down."

Ash nodded at her. "Any time."

V walked up to the three laughing about Max's reaction, while Ash and Anabel looked at him, bewildered.

Then, Bonnie's expression turned into a smile as she gazed straight at Ash. The look in her eyes and smile on her face seemed surprisingly happy and content, which somewhat confused the pair. Surely beating up Max like that hadn't made her that happy. Right?

"Umm... what are you doing." Ash asked.

"Oh, sorry." Bonnie quickly realized she was staring and shook herself out of it before taking a deep breath. "I'm just admiring how much you've changed... Ash."


	5. Tournament Trials

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I leave for 24 hours, and this story begins to boom already?! Thanks guys!

How did she know?' Ash thought to himself with worry. Though, in the back of his mind, he knew he shouldn't be too surprised. His raven hair and very tan skin tucked underneath his cap was very recognizable, though his skin had gotten far darker after his time training in the Battle Frontier.

They all stood there like statues for the better part of a minute before Bonnie finally spoke up, breaking the tension in the air. "So is this a bad time, or...?" She muttered, trying to prevent this from becoming too awkward.

Ash suddenly instinctively flashed up his watch and called out his Scizor who formed a Metal Claw. Anabel also had her watch flash out her Metagross, who stood ready for anything and V sent out his Excadrill.

Said actions quickly had the Kalosian girl on the defensive, as she was not expecting such hostile reactions, but then again, she shouldn't have been overly surprised. Bonnie rose her hands quickly. "Woah! I'm not trying to start anything!" She promised before muttering under her breath. "And I thought this would be simpler..."

Ash rose an eyebrow. "What would be simpler?" He asked her, still not letting his guard down.

Bonnie took in a deep breath and let it out, finally managing to calm her racing heart somewhat. "Do you guys... have a few minutes?" She asked them in a small voice.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So what you mean to tell me..."

Ash sat up from the ground he was sitting upon as they listen to Bonnie finish her story in the clearing. Scizor was still on guard, but Anabel and V were nice enough to return Metagross and Excadrill to help Bonnie not stress out about the amount of eyes on her. The three were wary too, but could tell there was complete truth in Bonnie's story.

"... is that you never wanted to betray me?" Ash finished.

Bonnie shook her head, a sad glance as she looked down. "Of course not. I just wish I had a say in what I wanted back then, but with Clemont basically taking care of me more than my dad does at times, and me not being a trainer, I had no choice. Especially with Dedenne at risk."

Anabel sighed frustratingly. "People are just cruel. To think they threatened you with a Pokemon to make you agree."

"Yeah..." Bonnie looked in her purse to see a sleeping little mouse in there. "I'm just glad Dedenne is with me permanently now. For an entire year after the others gave up on you, I felt like they had something over my head. After you left, I almost felt like Clemont was at my neck trying to make sure I had nothing to do with you anymore. He even attempted to get me to let him travel with me, which I am pretty sure I know why he wanted to now."

Ash nodded. "I understand, Bonnie. But now that you know, what about the others?"

Bonnie shrugged, an uncaring expression dotting her face. "Luckily they don't really care about me anymore. Clemont would care, but he is a day behind the rest of us, so he shows up tomorrow, and I'm allowed to have my own room at the Hotel. So if I can avoid him, then I can probably just stay with you two for a while."

Ash frowned. "If they're a day behind, then what about the ceremony?"

"The Kalos Gym Leaders, Elites, and Diantha get a by on the ceremony due to weather. The Lumiose airport is getting rained out according to my dad." Bonnie stated.

"Alright then."

Bonnie then gestured to Ash and Anabel with a smirk on her face, eager to change the subject. "So what's up with you two and the whole calling each other dear and honey, huh?"

Ash and Anabel blushed while V laughed. "We needed an act to fool Max, so I just decided to wing it. Luckily Anabel caught on."

"It wasn't the smoothest acting I ever tried, but it got the job done." Anabel shrugged, hoping Bonnie would drop it.

Bonnie laughed. "Could've fooled me. But what have you been up to anyways? I think I would've noticed you at some point on the statistics."

"Well not when I'm a Frontier Brain."

Bonnie almost froze. "W-Wait... you're a Frontier Brain now?"

Ash nodded. "Mhm. And besides my co-workers and a select few others, you're the only other one who knows."

She couldn't help but gaze at him in awe. "Wow... I never thought you would actually sit in one place long enough to get a title and run a battle facility. You used to be way more invested in travelling."

"Oh he still is. I don't even think I could get him to stop." Anabel joked. "We're just more discrete about it."

"They travel in secret." V added.

"Amazing..." Bonnie muttered. "I can only imagine the kind of damage you're going to do to the others."

"Yeah, I hear you, but kicking their butts is not at the top of my priority list right now. I'm just glad you're still on my side." Ash stated.

"I'm glad also. And now that gives me a job."

That made the former Pallet native frowned. "And that is?"

"Getting you two together!" She grinned.18

Silence.

Ash and Anabel looked at each other and immediately blushed. Then they both turned to Bonnie, then back at each other. Normally they were both quick witted after being Frontier Brains for a long time. But something about what Bonnie just said took a second to process.

"WHAT?!!"

"Why is this suddenly your job?!" Anabel demanded, her face flushed in embarassment.

"Why are you two not together yet?" Bonnie countered with a cheeky grin.

"Why am I getting flashbacks to Kalos?" Ash groaned, facepalming.

All the while, V was simply laughing his head off.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The ceremony wasn't anything to gawk at. At least not to the Frontier Brains and many others like them. All they needed were the rules for later rounds before most of them tuned out Goodshow in an instant. Today, Ash and Anabel spent their time talking about strategy for the upcoming Tag Team rounds after the prelims for the regular trainers, while V was reading a book titled"Legendary Pokemon and Their Habitats."

They sat in the Frontier Brain exclusive box that Scott rented out for them. Each individual person was up to their own activities, and even some of the Brains weren't in the box at the moment. But Ash and Anabel had some battles they couldn't afford to miss.

"So are we sticking with those two?"

Anabel nodded. "They know each other like the back of their hands after all the recent practice. If we get a hard pool of battlers, then we can switch to Pikachu and Espeon. Don't want to take too many risks."

"Alright, I get that. Best to keep the amount of Pokemon we have unknown." Ash surmised.

"Right. Also, who are Bonnie and Lillie supposed to partner with?"

"Bonnie said something about running into Sawyer, one of my Kalos rivals, so unless Max tries to steal her, my bet's on him. And Lillie ran into my friends from Alola, but I don't know who she'll choose. Plus let's not forget they have to beat prelims first."

"Don't you have faith in them?" Anabel asked.

"Of course I do. After all, in a way, I taught them myself."

. . . . . . . .

Waiting in the hall for her battle to be called out, Lillie was unsure of what to expect from her opponent. She had never heard of the name Alice McKenzie before. That didn't mean Lillie planned for reckless actions, but she wasn't sure how cautious she had to act.

"Lillie Aether, your battle is about to start. Please step onto the platform."

Lillie walked onto the metal platform as it descended down in front of her. She fiddled with her Poke Ball as she prepared for what may await her above. The platform rose to the top, letting her hear the roar of the crowd and meet eyes with her opponent: a long haired brunette with blue eyes wearing a green jacket, black and white shirt, and black leggings.

The ref rose his flags. "Alright, this is a one on one battle between Lillie Aether and Alice McKenzie. Trainers, release your Pokemon."

Lillie went first. "Go, Venusaur!"

The Grass type starter roared as it hit the ground, establishing it's power as it hit the field.

Alice smirked cockily. "Bad move going first. Archeops, let's win this!"

The flying type fossil bird was released as it flew in a circle and landed on the ground in front of Alice, locking eyes with Venusaur before letting out a loud cry. Though Lillie and Venusaur were unaffected by such intimidation tactics.

Up in the Frontier Box, Ash shook his head knowingly. "That girl hasn't changed at all."

Anabel frowned. "You know her?"

"Alice lost to me five times last year. Never beat me once. She has a fat ego just cause she got runner up in the Vertress conference and top 4 in the Indigo conference."

Anabel nodded. "Well she must be strong." She said, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"In a way."

Anabel tossed a confused glance at Spenser, who sat down on the other side of Ash. "Huh?"

"That girl fights dirty. She stays within official rules, but her tactics are dangerous and frowned upon in league format. She managed to beat me, but not by much. Her final blow to my Arcanine was a High-Jump Kick from her Scrafty, but even when my Arcanine was struggling to stand and I knew he had enough, she used Brick Break in the same spot where the High Jump Kick landed. Arcanine was out for two weeks." He explained. "The bottom line is she will do seemingly unnecessary attacks on her opponents if she thinks it will earn her the victory."

Ash nodded, agreeing with Spenser's synopsis. "She tried to pull that style on me, but she never got past my first Pokemon. She didn't have a true enough bond with her Pokemon to have been able to break through me. Not to mention that she's so cocky, it's painful. And it looks like nothing has changed."

Down on the field, the ref was about to start the match. "Alright, Archeops versus Venusaur. Begin!"

"Let's end this quick. Archeops, use Aerial Ace." Alice commanded in a bored tone.

Lillie wasn't having this, easily prepping for the aggressive options Alice displayed. "Sludge Bomb then Leech Seed when it goes down."

As Archeops was charging in, it suddenly caught a surprisingly fast Sludge Bomb with it's head and fell to the ground. Before it could respond, it was caught by Leech Seed and trapped in the roots it produced.

"What!? Archeops, cut it with Dragon Claw and get out of there!" She cried out.

"Track it and keep using Sludge Bomb."

As soon as Archeops was out, Venusaur was sending waves of Sludge Bombs at Archeops. After dodging a few waves, Archeops was hit, creating a domino effect, allowing the Pokemon to be hit again and again. After a second, Alice finally yelled out.

"Use Protect and rush in with it still up!"

Lillie frowned. This was a strategy she had never heard of, but one she wasn't going to let beat her. She also noticed how tired Archeops was getting and could only assume one thing.

"Use Acrobatics."

"Venusaur, stand your ground." Lillie ordered.

Most of the crowd widened their eyes at the bold strategy, but they didn't know some Pokemon like Lillie did. Archeops made the connection, causing smoke to occur at the moment of contact. Alice smirked, thinking she had won, but her imagination shattered into tiny shards after the smoke cleared.

"How!?" She cried. Venusaur was still standing and had Archeops wrapped up in a Vine Whip.

"Simple. Archeops has the ability, Defeatist. After taking so many attacks, it's strength dropped, meaning Venusaur could take Aerial Ace without breaking a sweat. You lost this match thanks to your overconfidence." Lillie berated.

"Archeops! Get out!"

"Checkmate. Close quarters Leaf Storm."

The attack that followed took place so fast, that the next moment, Archeops was on the ground in front of Alice, who couldn't believe what just happened.

"Archeops is unable to battle. Venusaur wins. Lillie takes the match and moves on to the tag battle rounds."

Ash smiled. "Like I said, not much has changed with Alice. She thought Lillie had no way to counter Flying types."

Anabel nodded. "Lillie is going to be one to watch out for. She's about as innovative as you, but with more book knowledge."

"Yeah, I almost forgot about Defeatist." V admitted. "Lillie has it made when it comes to info, but she has to watch out for different strategies and styles from other opponents. That's her biggest weakness."

"You sure seem to know a lot about her. But I guess that's from training her like you said." Spenser commented.

"Yeah. She originally liked our method of training directly with our Pokemon, but it's a bit late to stop us when we've done it for a long time now." Ash chuckled. "But after seeing the results, she decided to take initiative and asked for us to teach her how we do it."

"So Bonnie is supposed to be next, right?" Anabel asked.

"Ironically, yes. I still don't know why they got put right next to each other. But I don't know her opponent." Ash mused.

Spenser pulled out a pamphlet and began skimming through it. "Luckily for you two, Scott gave me a list of the battles to come."

"Thanks Spenser. So who is Bonnie up against?"

Spenser found Bonnie's name in a heartbeat. "Ah, this should be interesting. She's facing Damon, that one trainer from a few months ago."

Ash frowned. "The hotshot?" Spenser nodded in response. "Oh yeah, this will be interesting. That guy has been all over as of the last year or so winning isolated tournaments. Bonnie may have trouble with this one."

"Hopefully she can pull through." Anabel stated.

. . . . . . . .

Bonnie rose up on the platform to the battlefield. She did luckily know who her opponent was and some of his Pokemon, but how he battles is another story. Bonnie knew she would have to outsmart him if she wanted a shot at winning.

She eyed the black haired man with green eyes staring over at him. His hiker backpack was on his back and his black cargo shorts and his red shirt rang out with wild intent. He held a confident look on him as he looked over at Bonnie.

"You know, you could just make this easier on both of us and forefeit. I know your background. You wouldn't want to disappoint your brother and father, would you?"

Bonnie was already fuming. "Oh stuff it big head. We both know I don't plan to."

"Still, it would make it easier on both of us. Like come on, what about that one trainer I heard you traveled with a long time ago that almost won the league in Kalos? You really want to disappoint someone like him?" He stated with a sly smirk.

Bonnie was seething with anger. She wanted to go over and kill him for even considering that she could disappoint Ash by losing, but she realized what he was doing. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, projecting a calm, yet scary tone through her voice. "You will regret battling me today."

Damon gulped at the tone. 'That was not the end result I wanted.' He screamed in his mind.

Up in the box, Anabel could see what was going on and can feel Bonnie getting angrier, but she was wondering just what Damon was telling her. "What are they saying?"

Spenser and V shrugged while Ash, who had his eyes closed responded. "Damon's taunting her, saying she should forfeit before she disappoints her family or even me by losing terribly. But Bonnie composed herself and changed her negative energy into constructive energy focused on beating Damon. I can tell her Pokemon can also feel it too. They're practically shaking in their Poke Balls with anger."

"How did you..." Anabel started, but noticed the small sapphire blue glow that encircled Ash. It was like an ethereal glow, but she could also feel how warm and calming it felt by sitting so close to him.

Spenser smiled as he witnessed what Ash did. "Glad to see you're putting that skill to good use."

Ash dispersed the glow and looked over at the Palace Maven. "Yeah. I'm happy to have it. Really comes in handy."

Anabel frowned, realization slowly dawning on her. "Is that what I think it is?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah. When I went under training with Spenser, he figured out I had it, then told me that I should practice it to learn to control it more. I used it recklessly a few times before, so I figured it would be a good move."

"And you didn't tell me this why?" Anabel questioned, slightly irritated.

"I asked him not to. I didn't want him to put you at risk. The training for this power is risky and requires much focus and discipline, and if you know Ash, you know those originally weren't qualities of his." Spenser stated.

"Hey!"

Spenser ignored him. "So I quoted a few old texts, observed his progress personally, and called in a friend of his to help him perfect it. And you see the end result before you now."3

"You could've at least told me you know. He was my student after all." Anabel pouted lightly.

"And he chose to study under me for 3 weeks." Spenser countered with a light jest.

"I didn't want to worry you with the details Annie. If you knew, then you would've worried to the point where you would've wanted to come out and help. Aura training is not easy and spectators would be put at risk. I didn't want you going through that." Ash tried to calm her down using her nickname.

"Aww. Look at you two."

Greta sat down in the row behind them. "It's nice seeing you both acting so protective of each other."

Anabel blushed slightly, while V cracked up again, but Ash was unfazed. "Of course I'm protective of her. I'm protective of all of you. Everyone worries about me enough as it is." He exclaimed.

Greta smiled. "With good reason though. Anyways, I thought she was on your bad list. What changed?"

"Turns out she was being blackmailed with one of her own Pokémon." Anabel said after she got over her blush.

"That's just too drastic." Spenser shook his head, disappointed.

"I can agree with that, old man. But Ash, are you sure you can trust her?" Greta quizzed.

"I would be able to tell if she was faking her emotions. It looked all good to me." Anabel responded.

"Ok then. If she is clear, then what is the guarantee she won't accidentally lead the others to you?" Greta questioned.

"She plans to dodge them since they supposedly don't care about her and she knows how to avoid her brother."

"Alright, stop. The battle is starting." Anabel said.

Down on the field, the ref rose his flags. "Trainers, send out your Pokémon!"

Damon smirked. "Machamp, let's go!"

Out came the four armed fighting type with a roar as he attempted to show off his power. Bonnie, however was not impressed.

She flashed a Poke Ball off her belt and threw it. "Meowstic, come on out!"

The white cat came out with a slight smile on her face, seemingly satisfied that she was chosen first. Bonnie felt confident, but she knew that Damon could pull anything against her. But she also knew she was not letting him come out of here with the win.

"Meowstic versus Machamp. Battle begin!"

"Meowstic, use Future Sight." Bonnie commanded, already setting up her game plan.

Meowstic tossed psychic energy into a portal, knowing it will come back later on.

Damon, however, could not keep himself from growing impatient. "Machamp, rush it with Bullet Punch." He commanded

The Fighting type formed its fist into metal and rushed quickly towards Meowstic.

"Hold your ground Meowstic. Watch him and learn his pattern." Bonnie whispered low enough for only Meowstic to hear.

Machamp rushed in a straight line, smirking as he assumed this would be a free hit. He came close to the Meowstic and prepared to strike, crying out as the distance was getting shorter by the second.

"Psychic."

In a heartbeat, Meowstic had Machamp in a Psychic hold and he was not moving. Damon gawked at what he was witnessing. "How is that possible?!"

"Throw it. Hard."

Meowstic didn't hesitate to toss the thing around like a rag doll. Machamp cried out in pain as he hit the ground multiple times, facing the full force of a pure Psychic type with a trainer as mad as Bonnie. Damon widened his eyes as he watched his Pokémon wriggle helplessly.

After several more hard throws, Bonnie had seen enough. "Toss it upward."

Meowstic tossed it upward into midair as Damon tried to call out to Machamp.

"Try a Focus Blast. Don't let them slip by unscathed." He yelled.

Machamp started forming a ball of blue energy in it's hand and launched it quickly from the air. But then Bonnie revealed her game plan.

"Use Nasty Plot followed up with Stored Power!"

The wave of psychic energy blasted through the Focus Blast and gripped Machamp, throwing it into invisible psychic walls before shattering through one and being launched up more.

Immediately, as though fate decreed it, the Future Sight attack from before descended upon the Machamp, striking it and covering its surrounding in a glow of smoke. Machamp finally started falling out of the smokescreen quickly. An easy look at it, and everyone could tell he had fainted. Damon fell to his knees in utter defeat.

"Catch it with Psychic. We don't need to be that cold." Bonnie muttered.

Meowstic obeyed and helped ease the fall of the Fighting type as he fell to the floor. The ref rose his flags.

"Machamp is unable to battle. Meowstic is the winner. Bonnie moves on to the next round."

Up in the box, Anabel, Ash, and V sat there with widened eyes. In all of Ash's travels, he had never expected to see Bonnie battle so well, but so ruthlessly. From what Anabel knew about Bonnie, this shocked her as well. They shared a quick look at each other.1

"Remind me to never tick her off." Anabel said with a wavering voice.

"Deal." Ash nodded quickly.

V was too stunned to pay attention.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The champions are given their titles for a reason. Not only are they considered the best of the best in their region, but they are also the faces of the region from which they reside in. Not only do countless people look up to them, but they are also considered protectors of their respective regions.

And for once, all of them are gathered in one single spot.

From Johto to Galar (as Kanto still lacks a champion), each one of these individuals represents their region. And as they speak together, they speak without formalities. Almost like they were a small little family of their own.

"So what do you all think of the matches so far?" Hau asked the others. Despite him not being a champion for as long as them, he was still respected among all of them.

"Honestly, not a lot of these matches have been very close. Most of the ones we've seen so far have been landslides, like the battle between that blonde girl from Kalos and the guy with the Machamp." Lance, the dragon master of Johto stated. "If I had to say anything, it's that the only lack of trainers we've seen so far has been from your region, Leon."

The Galar champion chuckled lightly. "You're not wrong, unfortunately. There were not a lot of trainers from my region that stood out overall, so we did not get a crazy amount of invites." Leon informed them. "As of right now, the trainers off the top of my head that are in the tournament from my region are my brother, Tom Hawkins, and Sofia Laxton."1

"Speaking of Sofia, she's up next I believe." The three champions turned towards Cynthia, who was holding a list.

Leon turned his head to the field and smiled as he saw who was walking out of the tunnel. "You're right. There she is."

Out walked a pale girl with silvery hair. She wore a light blue beret and had on a blue sweater with white pants. She walked with grace and poise as she moved towards her spot on the field. She closed her eyes as she listened to the voices of the crowd around her before opening them and marveling at the stadium around her.

"She has a lot of grace with her. I can see it from here." Cynthia remarked.

"Yeah, she does. She's also quite the trainer. Nearly beat Raihan in the circuit tournament for the right to fight me, but unfortunately she only narrowly lost. Regardless, she's plenty strong and knows her way clear around a battle." Leon inferred.

Next came a pale brunette with her hair tied up in a bun behind her. As she walked, she didn't walk with a sense of grace, like Sofia did, but more with a sense of purpose. While she walked up to her place on the field, Leon took note of her clothing, which was a yellow dojo outfit that looked remarkably familiar.

"Hmm..." Leon frowned to himself before he finally recalled where he had seen that outfit. "Oh wow."

"What is it, Leon?" The Alola Champion asked.

"That style on the other girl is Galarian as well. The outfit she has on is the dojo outfit for a nearby island that's really close to the Galar region." He told them. "But surely I would have known if one of the students of that dojo was going to be part of this tournament." He frowned slightly.

"Here, catch." Leon turned just in time to barely catch the list of preliminary battles from Cynthia. "Take a look and see if the girl's name is familiar to you."

Leon nodded and began to scan the list quickly until he found Sofia's name. "Here we go." He took a glance at the name next to Sofia's and blinked. Twice. A third time.

He gasped.

All of the champions in the box turned their heads towards the origin of the loud noise and started looking at Leon. However, said Galar champion did not notice, nor did he care. His hands started shaking slowly, but sped up until he could no longer hold the list in his hands. His eyes were wide and he shakily managed to make himself stand out of his chair. His entire body was trembling to the point that if he wasn't moving on his own, the others would think he was going into shock.

He took some steps up to the railing and stared down at the girl who was in the arena. He started scanning her up and down, trying to see if the name he just read was actually real, or simply just a fake. An image that had somehow planted itself in his brain to taunt him.

But as soon as the girl met his eyes, he knew.

"It's actually her..." He mumbled.

Lance, who had barely caught what Leon was saying, spoke the thought that was in everyone's head. "Leon, who is it?"

"That girl is the one battler that I never thought I would see again." He started. "Not only was she one of the few trainers in the gym circuit to actually push past Raihan during my win streak, but she also came so close to beating me, that I thought I lost my title." He sighed lightly. "And she was also my brother's rival and our childhood friend."

. . . . . . . .

Speaking of brothers, Hop was sitting in the Galarian gym leader box as he continued to study up on some of the books he had brought with him. His battle had ended long ago, so with a little help from Marnie, he was allowed up into the box so he could have a somewhat quiet place to continue studying and become a Pokemon Professor.

He continued to keep his eyes on his book, which was a book on forest Pokemon habitats by Professor Birch. As he continued to read and absorb the information, he heard a loud gasp come from the box that somewhat shook his concentration. "Oi, could you keep it down? I'm studying over here." He commented, scowling in the direction of the voice.

However, as he turned, he saw that the voice belonged to Marnie. And that worried him for one of two reasons. One was that Marnie never interrupted him while he was studying. Not even unintentionally.

Two was that she never gasped unless something absolutely shook her.

He gazed off towards the direction of where Marnie was looking and saw that she was staring at a girl in some yellow dojo outift. However, as he took an even closer look, he suddenly realized exactly why Marnie yelped, which prompted him to yell some as well.

"No flipping way! That's actually Gloria!?" Hop cried out, drawing the attention of many of the gym leaders in the box.

. . . . . . . .

Gloria did not take her gaze away from Leon for a moment, analyzing the look of complete shock and surprise on his face. 'I hope you're watching, Leon.' She stole a glance up towards the Galar region Gym Leader box, where she saw several of the gym leaders staring at her, including Marnie. Hop was also up there, staring at her like he couldn't believe she existed.

'You too, Hop. Marnie. It's time to show you how much I've changed.'

"If you're done marveling at the stadium too, I think it's time that we get to our battle. Don't you agree?" A silky smooth feminine voice spoke out to her with ease.

Gloria turned her head back to her opponent and lightly laughed. "Apologies. It's not right for me to keep an opponent waiting." She responded, grabbing a Poke Ball from her sash. "Let's begin."

The ref looked between them before raising his flags. "Trainers, send out your Pokemon!"

"Frosmoth, come out!" Sofia tossed a Poke Ball and revealed an icy looking bug type with blue eyes and a small body.

Gloria tossed her own Poke Ball. "Cinccino, double time." In a white flash, the normal type Pokemon came out and dropped onto the field, making a few people awe at the appearance of the cute normal type.

Sofia, however, appeared unamused. "A Cinccino, huh? Never thought I would see one of these in a battle."

Gloria simply said nothing, making calculations in her head about what type of move Sofia will try to start with before deciding on one that would be smart for Sofia to try.

The ref threw down his flags. "Frosmoth versus Cinccino. Battle begin!"

"Let's end this quickly. Frosmoth, use Icy Wind!" Sofia commanded.

Gloria narrowed her eyes, getting a quick grasp of the type of logical battler Sofia is. "Dazzling Gleam, and blind them."

Just as Frosmoth was launching an attack, Cinccino let out a blinding flash of fairy energy that struck the bug type, disrupting the attack and blinding Frosmoth in an instant. Sofia gasped at such an option while shielding her eyes from the sheer blindness of the attack.

When the light died down, Cinccino was nowhere to be seen, and Frosmoth was looking all around for any sign of the little Pokemon. Even Sofia was struggling to find the Scarf Pokemon. Meanwhile Gloria was not making any obvious moves, keeping her body language neutral so as to not give away her plan.

Sofia finally turned to Gloria. "What, is Cinccino just going to hide all day?" She taunted.

"Oh no. That would be boring, and it would draw out the match for way too long." Gloria responded calmly. "Iron Tail."

Sofia heard the command and started looking around frantically until she spotted a shadow on the ground and looked up. In a brief moment, she saw Cinccino rapidly approaching from the air with Iron Tail, already preparing the swing.

"Above you! Dodge it!" She exclaimed hurriedly.

Frosmoth quickly turned around and noticed Cinccino quickly enough to try and hover to the side and mess with Cinccino's aim.

Gloria was quick to respond however. "Tuck and roll. Then follow Frosmoth with Rock Blast."

In a glorious switch around, Cinccino let the steel energy on her tail disperse before tucking and rolling along the ground, transferring her momentum into the roll. As soon as she finished rolling, she started firing several blasts of rocks from where she was standing at Frosmoth. The bug type tried to dodge, but unfortunately was hit by the last rock that Cinccino threw out, as it did not expect so many rocks at once.

Frosmoth hit the ground, making Sofia call out with worry. "Frosmoth! Are you ok?" Frosmoth, in response to her trainer's call, managed to push itself back up into the air, although it was hovering weakly.

'The problem with a bug type like Frosmoth is that not only is it frail with it's defenses, but it is not one of the fastest bug types.' Gloria reviewed in her head. 'Add that to its numerous weaknesses, and that makes raising one for battle very hard. To take a rock type attack and still get up like that is somewhat impressive, but Frosmoth can't take another hit. I bet Sofia knows that too.'

"Alright Frosmoth, use Quiver Dance." Gloria didn't make any indication of worry, but an alarm bell rang in her head from the command that Sofia just gave.

"Cinccino, use Swift!" Gloria commanded swiftly in response. The Scarf Pokemon then launched a barrage of stars straight at the moth.

"Quick, use Protect." In response to the attack that Sofia knew couldn't miss, she decided to go for the safer option and put up a barrier instead to block it. The stars collided harmlessly against the barrier that Frosmoth put in front of itself.

However, when the Protect dropped, there was one noticeable issue.

Cinccino was gone.

And there was a hole in the field.

"Now use Dig!"

"Dodge it!"

Faster than most of the people in the arena could react, Cinccino tried to strike Frosmoth from underground using Dig. However, Sofia was quick to recognize the hole in the field and managed to avoid the attack. Because of the swift dodge, thanks to Quiver Dance's stat raises, Cinccino was left suspended in the air with no easy way down.

Sofia smirked inwardly. "Now use Bug Buzz!"

Frosmoth quickly flew above Cinccino and let out a large cry as a wave of bug energy struck Cinccino hard. The Scarf Pokemon was sent flying into the ground, making Sofia smile at the handiwork that Frosmoth had created as her Pokemon started descending to the ground. In a mere moment, Cinccino had successfully collided with the ground.

However, instead of forming a crater, Cinccino disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"What!?" Sofia exclaimed.

"Aqua Tail."

A blur shot straight out of the first hole and flew right towards the unsuspecting Frosmoth, who was still as bewildered as it's trainer was. In less than a second, a spout of water that was forming from the base of Cinccino's tail struck Frosmoth downwards and made it strike the floor, forming a small crater in the ground.

When the debris had cleared, Frosmoth had swirls stuck in it's eyes.

"Frosmoth is unable to battle. The winner is Cinccino. Gloria moves onto the next round."

Gloria released a breath that she was not aware she was holding. She smiled and walked up to Cinccino, picking her up and hugging her gently. "You played wonderfully out there. I'm so proud of you." She told the normal type.

"Cin cinccino cin."

Gloria rolled her eyes with a smile. "Fine, I'll make you some macarons later, but you're not eating all of them in one go." She countered, which made Cinccino pout cutely. The Galarian native giggled and returned the Scarf Pokemon to let her get some rest.

"Gloria!"

She turned towards her opponent, who walked up to her with a smile. "Thank you for the wonderful match." Sofia exclaimed.

"No, thank you. It's been a bit since I've battled in such a... public setting to put it bluntly." Gloria responded in kind, doing her Isle of Armor bow, before realizing that she was doing it and pulling back up. The entire action confused Sofia, before Gloria placed a hand behind her head.

"Sorry. It's a habit from where I've been training to bow in respect after a battle, no matter the outcome." She explained sheepishly.

Sofia laughed lightly. "There's nothing wrong with that. I think it's cute." She told her before bowing back in kind, which made both girls laugh.

Once they stopped, Sofia bid her farewell and wished her luck in the rest of the tournament, to which Gloria accepted gratefully. She stole one last glance at the Galar Gym Leader box and the Champion's box before exiting herself, leaving an ecstatic crowd all too eager to see a match as fast paced as that one was.

. . . . . . . .

Hop, who was still in awe of how Gloria had battled, finally managed to snap out of his shock as Gloria glanced towards them for a second. Once Gloria started walking, he finally spoke up. "That was... incredible. From Cinccino's swiftness to Gloria's tactic of using Substitute in a hole to make Sofia lower her guard, it seemed like she was completely prepared for this match-up."

Marnie nodded in agreement. "I've never seen her that calm and in control. It's like she had a counterplay and a plan for everything Sofia threw at her." She stated. "Her style was like that before, but it was almost scary how unfazed she was by that battle."

Hop agreed with her before realizing that they still haven't seen her in a long time. "Come on! We need to find her!" He exclaimed, practically dragging the poor girl along behind him.

. . . . . . . .

"That girl was unfazed the entire match." Lance commented in mild awe. "Not only that, but she was very calculating and seemed to perfectly catch on to the type of battler Sofia was. It almost reminded me of your battling style, Cynthia."

"That's Gloria alright." Leon inferred. "That's always been her battling style. Calm, collected and focused. Always scanning her opponent for their next move and capitalizing on it. She's almost like a mind reader in that sense."

"So why did you say you were surprised to see her again, Leon?" Diantha asked curiously.

Leon looked down with a light frown. "Well the thing is that after our battle, she left the stadium while I was distracted. And nobody knew where she left to except for her mother, who refused to tell anyone." He stated. "I didn't even get to shake her hand after the battle."

Steven Stone, who had been quietly piecing the puzzle together in his head, spoke up. "Then that would be your fault, wouldn't it?"

Everyone turned their head at Steven, who was staring at Leon with a pointed look. "Nobody could have stopped you from walking up to her right after tending to your Pokemon and congratulating her. If I had to guess, you were waving to your fans in the stadium as they cheered your name, and that's how you got distracted."

"Steven!" Cynthia chided.

Leon sighed. "No. As dreadful as he sounded, he's completely right."

Everyone looked back at Leon again with shock written on their faces. The Galar champion had stood up and looked at all of them. "I messed up, my brother messed up, even a lot of Galar messed up!" He said firmly. "Nobody even bothered to talk to her after the match was over. Not me, not my brother, not the gym leaders, not even her best friend."

"So while everyone was celebrating your victory, nobody bothered to console her about her loss." Steven surmised, to which Leon nodded in affirmation. The steel specialist sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Poor girl. That must have been humiliating. Leon, I thought you knew better than that."

Leon turned back to the tunnel that Gloria had exited through. "So did I, Steven." He mumbled. "So did I."

. . . . . . . .

As Gloria exited the tunnel, she found Callum already waiting on her, writing a few things on his notepad as he looked at his Pokegear Plus. As he was finishing up, he pulled his head up and smiled at Gloria, who was wearing a grin on her face.

"Great job. She didn't even land a hit." Callum commended, putting up his notepad and closing his Pokegear.

"Thanks. And with your victory over that Katie girl from Johto, that means we get to go to the tag battle rounds together!" She exclaimed in slight excitement, which made Callum chuckle.

"Glad to see you're enthusiastic. Our opponents won't know what hit them." He added. "Now come on. We should probably get Cinccino a quick check up at the Pokemon Center."

"Gloria!!!"

Both of them turned to see Hop and Marnie running down the corridor towards them. Gloria looked somewhat panic struck, as she was not expecting them to chase her down so soon. But a hand from Callum snaking its way into hers calmed her down. "Want me to teleport us out of here?"

Gloria nodded, closing her eyes and leaning her head against him. "Please?"

Callum smiled at her and pulled out a Poke Ball. He tossed it into the air, which opened and revealed a Porygon-Z from within. "Teleport us to the Pokemon Center, please?" He requested.

"Pory." The normal type nodded and latched onto it's trainer, teleporting them away from the stadium right in front of Hop and Marnie's eyes.

The pair slowed down as they reached where Callum and Gloria just were, blinking slightly in light surprise of what just happened.

"Where did she go?" Marnie asked. "And who was that with her?"

"That guy looked familiar, but right now, I'm not sure. But she probably went to the Pokemon Center to take care of Cinccino." Hop guessed.

Marnie agreed and sighed. "Looks like she's still upset with us."

"I don't blame her though." Hop exclaimed, crossing his arms. "She has every reason to be upset."

"Yeah but for this long?!" She exclaimed in light frustration.

Hop shook his head at her. "She wouldn't be upset in the first place if we actually paid attention. You know this."

"You're right." She relented. "But that doesn't make it any better."

Hop sighed. "We'll just have to keep trying. After all, the longer she stays in the tournament, the easier it will be to find her and confront her." He stated before looking back at where Gloria stood only moments ago. "Let's just hope we can get her to talk to us again."

. . . . . . . .

In their hotel room, at around 10 o'clock, Ash and Anabel were sitting on the couch in their night clothes watching a movie together, while V was out training. Ash was petting Pikachu on his lap while Anabel was leaned up against Ash's left shoulder with Espeon laying at the Salon Maiden's side. Ash would've said something, but this was Anabel. He knew her too well to be against it.7

As they continued to watch the movie, Ash sighed as he was seemingly drawn away from the movie and lost in thought. That encounter with Max earlier was still playing in his mind. Max obviously didn't know it was him, but that may change tomorrow. He was among one of the early tag rounds as far as he was aware, so it's very likely that he'll be revealed to the world again.

And that idea of painting a target back onto himself was worrying. Especially with his friends also at risk of getting caught in the crossfire.

It took Anabel a minute to notice, but when she did, she nudged him a bit to snap him out of it.

Ash looked over at her. "What's up?"

"You looked pretty spaced out. Something wrong?"

Ash shook his head. "No, just... don't worry about it."

Anabel sat up. "Every time you say that, it never works. Just tell me."

Ash knew he wasn't winning. But after a few moments of pure silence, he conceded."I just don't want to have to face them. I know I can beat them no problem, but them coming back in to try and ruin what I have now is just stuck in my head."

Anabel sighed inwardly. She had a feeling Ash was having this struggle, but she didn't want to pry on pure speculation. She glanced at Pikachu and Espeon, who were both seemingly concerned for the Castle Guardian.

"I thought you would be worried about that. But Ash, you have the entire Battle Frontier on your side. On top of that, you outclass them as a battler and in several ways, as a person too. You shouldn't be scared of facing them just because of us. You're forgetting who we are." Anabel stated.

Ash simply looked down, not saying anything. Anabel wasn't having it and stood up in front of him. "Don't shove us out. The Battle Frontier is your family. Let us help you."

Ash didn't move again, so Anabel pulled him into a hug. "At least let me help you."7

Ash returned the embrace. "Thanks. I... I just don't want you all to get so involved that you could regret it."

"We aren't going to regret it. We are going to face this head on together. Besides, we don't have a choice."

Ash rose an eyebrow. "What does that mean."

Anabel let go. "I saw our matchup... and I don't think you're going to like it."

"Oh boy." Ash sat up with a sigh. "What is it?"

Anabel paused briefly before relenting. "Us versus Serena and Clemont."


	6. Encounters

Ash frowned at hearing that match. He never expected to be facing anyone from his past so soon. Especially since this was the first round of the tournament. "It's really them?" He questioned in mild annoyance.

Anabel nodded, which earned a groan from Ash. "Ugh! Why did it have to be first round!"

"Just our luck I guess." Anabel muttered aloud.

A small slam came from the room entrance. V had returned.

"Yeah" He said. "They're not exactly going to be happen when they know you're alive."

"Well what about the others?" Ash asked curiously.

"Bonnie managed to get Sawyer like you said, and they are facing some random duo." V replied

"Callum and Gloria are dealing with Pryce and Morty from Johto." Anabel continued, while V went into the bathroom to answer a call. "Lillie is also facing another random duo, but the kicker is that Lillie is partnered with Hau."

"Really?" Ash asked mildly surprised.

"Mhm. You'll have to ask her tomorrow." Anabel said.

"What about the other brains?" Ash wondered.

"Nothing too special from what Lucy told me earlier, besides Thorton and Tucker getting Erika and Sabrina from the Kanto gym circuit. So it looks like you and I might have pulled the most interesting match." Anabel decided.

Ash nodded. "Seems like it. Why is Serena even in this tournament... more importantly, past the first round?"

"Well Caitlyn watched that match and told me that her opponent forfeited because of her title." Anabel replied.

Ash's eye visibly twitched in anger. "...seriously?"

"Seriously."

Anabel could feel the malice coming off of Ash. Normally, this would scare anyone normal, but the topic of his old friends getting title privileges has has always had an effect on him. His mood hardly affected the Salon Maiden, considering she had her own opinions about the group as well. "I'm going to enjoy beating those two."

"Same here." Anabel stated casually as Pikachu and Espeon voiced their agreement from the background. "Not like they will be a challenge anyways."

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Ash and Anabel tossed each other confused looks as Ash went and opened the door. Standing in the doorway as he opened it was a familiar young blonde who was giving a wondering look to the Castle Guardian.

"You guys did see your match for tomorrow, right?" She asked.

"Yeah. Your brother and Serena are on our hit list now." Ash stated bluntly, before he realized something. "Wait a second. How did you even get here?!" He questioned.

The Kalos native gave a sheepish glance. "Umm... I had some help." She pointed behind her, where Ash noticed that Callum and Gloria were standing there with amused expressions on their faces.

"How did you two even get up here?" Ash questioned.

"Being a Pokemon Ranger has some advantages, though not very many. After we saw the list, we really just came up here to make sure you didn't blow up anything." Callum explained, his smirk not leaving his face.

Ash scowled. "Hey! I actually have control over my aura now, thank you!" He shot.

"You'd still do it unintentionally." Gloria giggled.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He turned his attention back to Bonnie. "Anyways, we'll be fine. Just don't be surprised if your brother is really annoyed for the next few days."

"Alright then." Then she saw Anabel through the doorway and smirked mischievously. "Sharing a room I see. How did you pull that off?"

Ash shrugged the comment off. "You can ask Scott. His plans changed when everyone started picking their roommates before Anabel and I got there."

"You sure they didn't do it on purpose?" Bonnie asked snidely.

Ash groaned as Anabel blushed in the background. "Go to bed Bonnie." He closed the door in front of her while Bonnie stood there with a large grin on her face before leaving, followed by Callum and Gloria who were laughing the entire time.

Ash sighed as he walked over to Anabel. "Sorry about that. You alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I can deal with it." Anabel stated as her blush started going down.

"Still though. I think it's going to be a long tournament." Ash stated as he sat back down.

. . . . . . . .

Morning arose quickly for Ash and Anabel, as their match is one of the first ones to start for the day. They got ready in their Battle Frontier attire, Ash not dawning his cloak, and snagged a quick breakfast by the hotel lobby before taking off for the stadium to battle.4

As they were on their way, Anabel realized something. "Hey Ash?"

Ash was petting Pikachu, but responded anyways. "Yeah?"

"I was doing a bit of reading up on Aura, and I was curious. Can you telepathically communicate with your Pokemon through Aura?" Anabel asked.

Ash paused for a second. "Where did you hear that?"

"A website speaking about the subject. It wasn't exactly clear, and by that I mean not clear at all, on how the flow of Aura works. But I did read a part that was supposedly from an ancient text that stated, 'So long as the bonds are true, the people of Aura do not need words to speak with those close to them.'" She explained. Ash sighed and stopped petting Pikachu.

"I'm surprised you pieced that much together in one day, but then again, you've always been smarter than me. Yes, I can speak with them through Aura. But I don't dare use it in battle." Ash said.

"Why not?" Anabel wondered aloud.

Ash laughed. "Cause that's your thing. Plus it's hard for me to keep that concentration for very long. I've only been at this for a year after all."

"So your Aura would get stronger if you practiced it over time." Anabel surmised.

"Bingo. But I don't dare go at it for a long time. If I did, I could die from Aura depletion. It's a risky art, but mastering it helps prevent accidents." Ash exclaimed.

"Well that's good to know." Anabel stated. "I was curious."

Ash shrugged. "Okay then."

Anabel looked around and saw no person in sight, so decided to be a little bold. She turned to Ash, who was back to petting Pikachu. And before Ash realized what she was doing, he felt something soft hit his cheek, stunning him. Anabel was blushing as she pulled back, but giggled a bit at Ash's reaction before moving on.

Ash's cheeks grew red as he felt the spot on his left cheek where Anabel's lips hit him. He was shocked that she even attempted that, but couldn't help but smile at her before they continued on.

Meanwhile, hidden in a nearby tree, a blonde was giggling to herself. "I knew they just needed alone time for it to work."

She turned to a Ghost Pokemon hidden under a colored rag that resembled a certain electric mouse next to her. "Thanks for scaring the crowd off Mimikyu. Though I don't know how you did it."

"Kyukyukyukyu." The ghost type giggled evily. That was one cat that would never escape the bag.

. . . . . . . .

Waiting for their names to be called, Ash and Anabel stood below the stadium, where the platform would take them up to the field. They had materialized the Poke Balls of the Pokemon they planned to use prior to arriving, as to not flaunt Professor Oak's invention before its scheduled release next year.

Ash was fiddling with the Poke Ball of the only Pokemon he planned to use on the two Kalos natives. "I give it close to ten. You?"

Anabel was looking through a bit of info on her wrist dex while just across from Ash. "Ten as well. Fifteen if those two won't shut up the whole battle." She decided, almost certain that those two will have a few choice things to say about them when they get up there.

"Fair enough. Clemont does love to rant. Especially about his inventions before they explode." Ash mused.

"It just better not take half an hour. We have a meeting to get to with Scott and the others at noon." Anabel informed him.

"Yeah I got that message a few minutes ago. But knowing Serena and Clemont as a pair, the battle shouldn't take that long." Ash assured her. "Besides, Serena isn't even a battler. We'll be fine."

"Will Frontier Brains Ash and Anabel please step up on the platform?"The intercom sounded.

Ash and Anabel nodded to each other as they stepped onto the platform, flashing brief smiles for reassurance as they prepare to meet their demons.

. . . . . . . .

"So why did you drag us out here? Some of our matches are in an hour you know." An emo-looking blonde with emerald eyes demanded.

Lillie grinned. "Trust me. You don't want to miss this match." She promised them.

Olivia frowned. "And the reason being?"

"Let's just say we have an old friend in this match." Lillie hinted.

Acerola pulled out the battle schedule for today and skimmed through the list until she found the right stadium number. "Let's see. Ten o'clock in stadium 5 is..."

Then she froze up for a brief moment before closing it quickly. For a ghost type trainer, she also seemed extremely pale all of the sudden. Her body shook a slight amount as a small tear started to form in her left eye. Her mouth hung open as her mind attempted to catch up with what she read.

Everyone noticed Acerola's sudden change in expression and grew a bit more anxious to find out. "What was it?" Hapu asked.

Acerola didn't answer Hapu's question. Instead she looked at Lillie with pleading eyes. "Please... say this isn't a joke." She begged her.

Lillie smiled. "No it's not. I faced him myself."

The ghost trainer sighed in relief. "Thank Arceus. I can't believe it." She muttered.

Everyone else lacked a list, so all they did was shoot confused looks at the pair. They decided best thing would be to wait for the surprise to come to them.

. . . . . . . .

The platforms rose up to reveal the red corner first. Them being the Kalos natives themselves.

"And up now, we have our red corner. First up, we have two people from Kalos. The beautiful Kalos Queen, Serena. And next to her, the electrifying inventor of Lumiose City, and their very own gym leader, Clemont." The announcer stated.

Everyone cheered for the pair as they waved to their fans with smiles on their faces. Then Clemont turned to Serena. "So do you know who our opponents are?"

Serena frowned. "I thought you knew." She responded.

"I misplaced my list, so the most I could learn without it was our battle was at ten." Clemont told her. "I don't know who they are."

"Well I don't know either."

"And in the blue corner, we have two battling legends from Kanto entering the field. Up first, we have a person with a rare special skill, who is higher ranked in her line of work, dawning the Ability Symbol in the Battle Frontier, we have Salon Maiden Anabel."

As the platform rose up, it showed the Salon Maiden along with her partner next to her. And after seeing her, they glanced at the partner. Serena and Clemont began to widen their eyes in surprise.

"Is that-" Serena started.

"And her partner is a talented individual, who has gained some of the most achievements for his age. He was high ranked in seven league conferences, beating the Orange League, and conquering the Battle Frontier before joining it. One who represents the achievements of bonds between people and Pokemon, dawning the Passion Symbol, we have the Castle Guardian Ash."

. . . . . . . .

The Alolan trainers dropped their jaws. They were speechless as to the revelation taking place before them. None of them could believe that their long time companion was alive and in such a position.

"You're joking! Ash is still alive?!" Mallow cried out.

"A Frontier Brain!? But how?!" Lana yelled as she recovered from her initial shock.

"Wait a second. Lillie, if he's a Frontier Brain, then does that mean-" Gladion started.

"I already fought him." Lillie stated, her eyes not leaving the pair on the field. "He beat me, but I didn't exactly make it a challenge for him."

"What do you mean?" Kahili asked.

Lillie shook her head. "I lost my cool during the match. And also, I don't think he wanted me to win that match as much as he wanted me to learn something from it."

"Huh... well did you learn it?" Hapu asked.

"I...I think so. I think that he wanted to help me remember what I learned from him back in Alola." Lillie assumed. "During our battle, I was losing myself cause he defeated my Flareon with his Scizor before I landed a hit."

The Alolans gawked momentarily before Lillie continued. "He then told me that if I couldn't stay confident, then the battle was already over. He said my Pokemon could feel my emotions, so if I was losing it, my Pokemon would too. I gained control back, but by the time I realized, it was too late and Ash had already pulled too far ahead for me to win."

"Wow... if Ash is that strong, then I don't know if I'll win this time around." Hau exclaimed, most of the Alolans nodding in agreement.

. . . . . . . .

As the crowd roared for them, an all too familiar, yet infamous group stood in the stands shocked at the revelation. Witnessing a ghost return not only surprised them, but they were shook and a bit annoyed that he happened to be in such a high battling position.

"Did you guys know about this?" Paul demanded, looking at everyone in the stands.

All the group shook their heads as they looked down at the pair with glares. Apparently nobody bothered to look at the matchups for today.

"Did Clemont and Serena know about it then?" May wondered.

Trip eyed the Kalos pair from his seat and saw the completely wide-eyed looks that were trapped on their faces. "Judging by the surprise on their faces, no. Must have lost the schedule for today." Trip inferred.

"I guess the Frontier must have been desperate. Ash isn't worth the skin he walks in, yet they still let him in." Misty remarked.

"Yeah. Score an easy victory for Serena and Clemont. Heck, I bet I could beat both of them alone while blindfolded." Max boasted.

"Oh stuff it Max. Everyone knows you would struggle. With Anabel that is." May stated while smirking.

"Yeah, that empathy skill is something all right. But why does a joke like her have it?" Dawn questioned with disgust.

"Probably luck or something. Whatever the case, she doesn't deserve it." Iris said.3

Meanwhile, an all too familiar Pokemon Doctor sat in silence, simply observing the new development with curiosity rather than resentment.

. . . . . . . .

"Oh man, are the others annoyed." Ash said with his eyes closed, using his aura to boost his hearing.

"Good. Makes it more fun to beat them." Anabel said in a dangerously calm tone that almost shook Ash up a bit.

"You're about to go Evil Anabel mode on them. Aren't you?" Ash asked slowly as his aura dissipated.

"Let's just say I don't plan on this taking long with small talk." Anabel spoke again with the same tone.

Ash tossed his Poke Ball up and let it fall into his hand. He repeated the action continuously while responding. "I'll take that as a yes then."

Clemont finally had the nerve to speak. "The Battle Frontier must have really been in a hole to invite you, Ash."

Ash just kept tossing his Poke Ball until he spoke. "Tell me. Who is the strongest in your group?"

Serena smirked. "Easy. That's Paul." She answered with no hesitation.

He stopped tossing the Poke Ball as his tone turned mocking while his eyes shot daggers at the duo. "Yet he never beat Spenser. And for reference, Anabel and I are ranked higher than him. No offense to you Spenser."

"NONE TAKEN." A voice sounded from the Frontier Box.

Ash stood there for a second, mildly confused as he turned to Anabel. "He heard that?" The Salon Maiden simply shrugged in response.

"The Frontier Brains have stupid rules. In a legitimate battle, they aren't any better than a starting trainer." Clemont declared.

"Yeah. Paul defeated the Sinnoh Frontier no problem." Serena said.

"We know. Except we have more than just three Frontier Brains in Sinnoh now. So I'd watch what you say about the Frontier." Anabel calmly inferred.

"What's the point? It's not like this is a difficult match anyways." Serena fired back in annoyance.

"Actually, for once, you're right. This won't take 10 minutes." Anabel claimed coldly as she pulled out her Poke Ball.

"This is a tag team match between Frontier Brain Duo Ash and Anabel, and Kalos Queen Serena and Gym Leader Clemont. Now trainers, send out your Pokemon!"

"Delphox, come on out!" Serena tossed up her Poke Ball.

"Heliolisk, let's win this." Clemont released one of his favorite Electric types.

Ash and Anabel nodded knowingly to each other, the family bond of Frontier Brains putting the words out for them.

"Come on out my friend!"

"I choose you!"

And as the flash from the Poke Balls disappeared, it revealed the pairs trusted fighting types, Lucario and Mienshao respectively. They let out fierce glares that made Heliolisk and Delphox recoil in fear.

"Battle... begin!"

"Fighting types? No problem. Use Psychic on Mienshao, Delphox." Serena commanded.

"Use Thunderbolt on Lucario." Clemont added.

"Dodge left." Anabel stated.

"Backpedal to your right." Ash said.

With experience speaking louder than words, the pair of Fighting types dodged the attacks with ease. They stopped side by side as they awaited the next command from their trainers.

"Alright Lucario, grab Mienshao, then toss her. Then follow her with Extremespeed."

"High-Jump Kick on Heliolisk, Mienshao."

The fighting types obliged and moved quicker than the opposing pair expected. Lucario grabbed Mienshao's arms and started spinning fast. In seconds, Mienshao was in the air and flying fast while Lucario was in hot pursuit, as it disappeared into a blur.

"Heliolisk, use Parabolic Charge." Clemont commanded.

"Psychic on Mienshao." Serena yelled.

"Dark Pulse." Ash stated simply.

Delphox attempted a Psychic, but was blindsided by a Dark Pulse from Lucario. Heliolisk attempted a Parabolic Charge, but was quickly caught by a High-Jump Kick to the stomach, crying out in pain and flying back a few feet as he winced from the super effective attack.

"What is that speed?" Clemont widened his eyes.

"It's not that Mienshao and Lucario are fast. You two are just slow." Anabel inferred as the two Fighting types returned back in front of them.

"And sadly, one of you is an Electric specialist. You should know what speed is." Ash added with disappointment.

The two opposing Pokemon got up as Serena and Clemont fumed. Insults coming from Ash were enough to set off explosions in their heads. "Oh that's it. Flamethrower on Lucario."

"Use Hyper Voice."

"Use Extremespeed to approach, then use half of Attack Chain three." Ash commanded.

"Charge with Detect, then use a shortened Attack Chain five." Anabel called out.

Everyone expressed confusion as Lucario and Mienshao followed through with their commands. Lucario disappeared and dodged the Flamethrower and Hyper Voice while Mienshao avoided it all with Detect.

Lucario appeared behind Delphox as Mienshao made it to Heliolisk. Lucario attacked with a barrage of Ice Punches and Thunder Punches, making sure to step in each time as Delphox was getting forced away. He finished with an uppercut Meteor Mash, knocking Delphox a couple hundred feet into the air. Mienshao hit Heliolisk multiple times with a Poison Jab in one hand and a Knock Off in the other, targeting specific joints before finishing with a Vital Throw to the ground below Delphox.

"You know what to do." Ash stated as Lucario used Extremespeed to get above Delphox before using Bone Rush to launch it downwards at Heliolisk.

"Heliolisk, get out!" Clemont cried

The Electric type tried to move, but found that it couldn't budge, which Clemont noticed. Delphox landed hard on Heliolisk, causing a bit of dust before revealing them to be knocked out.

The ref rose his flags. "Heliolisk and Delphox are unable to battle. Trainers, release your final Pokemon."

Clemont eyed the two Frontier Brains. "What did you do to my Heliolisk?! Tell me!"

Anabel shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing major. Just when Mienshao attacked, she targeted Heliolisk's pressure points, causing brief paralysis. It's only temporary."

"And those 'Attack Chain' things?" Serena tried to pry.

"Our own inventions. We get bored in between challengers, so we end up making new combinations. Not that you could memorize them for your benefit anyways." Ash stated.

The pair growled as they prepared to send their next Pokemon out.

. . . . . . . .

"That was amazing!" Hau exclaimed with widened eyes.

"These two could give Red and Blue a run for their money in the Battle Tree." Gladion praised.

"What creativity! I should ask them how they made those!" Hala, being a Fighting type trainer, couldn't help but mutter in awe.

Lillie smiled. "Ash never battled me with them, cause he says that they are easy to mess up without proper training, and aren't possible on some Pokemon. But their Lucario and Mienshao were born for these types of maneuvers. They spent an entire year training them to perfect those combos. They even tried to teach me one."

Olivia frowned at Lillie. "He tried to teach you?"

"Yeah, but it's a work in progress. But my Hitmonchan has improved a lot thanks to them." Lillie inferred.

"No. I mean he tried to teach you? So you trained with him before the tournament?" She elaborated.

"Yeah. It was only a week, but it was... I guess enlightening is the best word for it. I ran through the wringer, but I learned so much because of it." Lillie rambled slightly.

"Ash has changed so much. It just makes me want to battle him right now." Gladion exclaimed with a smile.

Lillie smirked. "Gladion Aether, is that a smile I see?" She teased.

Gladion rolled his eyes and performed his signature pose upon impulse. "Oh shut up."

. . . . . . . .

"Go Sylveon!"

"Let's bring it back Luxray!"

The pair sent out their own respective Pokemon as they glared daggers at the opposing Pokemon, wanting to beat them badly. Meanwhile Ash and Anabel showed no signs of fear at all.

"You both still good?" Ash questioned.

Both of the fighting types smirked while giving a signalling nod.

"Now... begin!"

"Use Moonblast on Mienshao!"

"Wild Charge on Lucario."

The two Pokemon formed their perspective attacks and prepared to launch them.

"Hey Ash. How much time has passed?"

Ash knew where this was going as he smirked and looked at his watch. "About eight minutes and twenty-three seconds."

"Then let's end this quick and get to the meeting. Sound good?" Anabel asked as the attacks launched from the opposing Pokemon.

"Yeah, let's go. Lucario, full power Bullet Punch into Meteor Mash!" Ash commanded.

"Mienshao, Detect then use High-Jump Kick at max power!" Anabel stated.

Lucario ducked under the Moonblast then charged, rushing around Sylveon to confuse it before driving a Meteor Mash into it's side, defeating it as it fell over. Mienshao dodged the Wild Charge and drove Luxray to the ground with High-Jump Kick, beating it into a crater as it yelled out in sheer pain before fainting himself.

"Both of the red corner's trainers have run out of Pokemon. The winner is the blue corner team of Ash and Anabel." The ref concluded.

The crowd erupted in happiness for the match. Anabel and Ash returned their Pokemon before waving to the crowd and smiling at them.

"Hey!"

They turned to see Clemont and Serena charge with upset looks on their faces.

"How did you beat us? What did you use to cheat!?" Serena demanded.

"We didn't cheat. You don't have battling experience and Clemont has not been keeping in top form by spending so much time on inventions." Anabel stated simply.

"But Ash is a weakling! He couldn't beat a Baby Magikarp." Clemont fumed.

Ash chuckled harshly. "Yeah, well I didn't beat a Baby Magikarp. I beat a couple of idiots."13

And on that note, the two Frontier Brains left to attend to other matters, leaving a fuming duo behind them to tend to their Pokemon.

. . . . . . . .

All the Alolans were out of air in their lungs after that last attack. The power that they just displayed was above anything they expected. Even Lillie was shocked to some degree. None of them were sure if their opponents were just that bad or if Ash and Anabel wielded that much power.

It took a second, but one of them, the person being Hau, finally snapped out of it. "THEY JUST BEAT THEM IN ONE ATTACK!?"

"Lillie, did you know they could do that!?" Mallow demanded in awe.

"No! I know it's possible, but to do it on a Gym Leader or the Kalos Queen? That's incredible." She breathed out.

"Well what are we waiting for? We need to go catch them!" Acerola yelled as she led the charge out of the stadium.

. . . . . . . .

Gloria smiled a bit as they watched Ash and Anabel walk off of the field. "If that battle is anything to go by, then I'm scared to see just how well they do against the rest of the competition."

Callum, who was munching on a hot dog, swallowed a bite before turning back to Gloria. "It's not much of a question. They're going to tear up the tournament." He decided.

Gloria turned to him. "I almost want to fight them now, but we haven't even matched up against them yet."

Callum shrugged. "We'll get our shot at them eventually. So long as we don't get knocked out too early." He took the last bite of his hot dog. "Besides, we may want to fight them, but I know you have one opponent in particular that you want to fight."

Gloria nodded slightly and looked up at the champions box one more time before the Galarian duo made their way out of the stands.

. . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, in said box, almost all of the people that were seated here looked mildly in shock at the display.

"Wow. I knew Ash was pretty good back when we met, but this is on a whole new level for him." Cynthia mused slightly.

"I knew that boy had potential. And it looks like he's finally tapped into it." Said Lance.

"You two knew him as well. Can't say I'm surprised." Alder stated with a chuckle.

"I think at this point, we can't deny it. Almost everyone has met Ash. I know most of us have. I can bet that the new Alolan Champion has too." Diantha stated with Steven nodding in agreement.

"Hopefully one of us can test him in this tournament. I hope it's Cynthia or Diantha. Now that would be a match." The silver haired man said.2

Leon, meanwhile, was sweatdropping at this. "Since when have you all been so interested in one person?"

Wallace chuckled lightly from right next to Leon. "I'll explain later. Just know that he is one of the most talented battlers of his age group."

"Well one way or another, this is not the same Ash Ketchum, and his teamwork with that girl is so impeccable, you would think they were made to be teammates. That does it then. I'm calling in my favor from Goodshow. I think it's time to test him." Cynthia spoke with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this chapter took shorter than I expected. However, that doesn't stop me from writing the following:
> 
> I basically suck at making suck OCs, so basically I have to use Bl0t0rch's and your's. Yes, your OC's can be in the story. The link is https://forms.gle/8gxsMdHyogRXxxp36. Rules are in form.
> 
> I (not-so) recently got a new computer, and it somehow doesn't give me accents, such as the e. So yeah. I'll have to spell it like that.
> 
> Victor's (V's) and Gloria's last names aren't based on that game "Hearthstone." The name may have come into my head while writing, but it's not supposed to be the inspiration for the names.


	7. Revelations

Ash and Anabel stepped through the doorway and out of the tunnel to the battlefield to see a sight they expected. The Kanto Brains and Scott were waiting on them to get ready for the meeting. All of them were giving amused looks at the pair, and judging from earlier, it clearly had to do with their battle.

"There you two are. Just out of curiosity, did you have to be that harsh?" Scott asked with a chuckle.

"Yes." Ash and Anabel spoke simultaneously, causing the others to raise an eyebrow.

"I swear, you two are growing more alike each day." Noland stated as some of the others followed his lead.

"You think?" They said at the same time again, causing them to look at each other before the whole group erupted in laughter.

Once it died down, Brandon took over. "I guess now we need to get the meeting over with. My battle is coming up and I would rather not miss it."

"He's right. We better go." Spenser added.

Everyone trailed along to the meeting room nearby so they could finally get through it all in a hurry. Scott got his laptop out and fired up the projector. It took a moment, but he managed to get to an email that was listed as 'Battle Tree Offer,' letting the others take in the information that was listed before summarizing it himself.

"Alright, so we got a request to take part in a Battle Tree event that goes on for about three days. It's supposed to celebrate the Battle Tree's one year anniversary. It starts two days after the tournament, so you all do get rest in between. Everyone has an invite, so if you don't want to go or you have urgent matters, then tell me so I can book the hotel rooms early. So who is sure they can't?"

Brandon, Tucker, Spenser, and Lucy spoke up, each voicing reasons that they were unable to attend. Lucy had a challenger to prepare for, Tucker had to have a meeting with a fashion designer and Brandon and Spenser planned to look through a new passage in the Ruins of Alph. Scott understood and preferred that his brains dealt with more important matters first before they did side duties for the Battle Frontier. After spending an extra ten minutes ironing out some details, Scott nodded with content after looking over the roster.

"That's perfect. Just the amount we need to face all the types of battles. And since we have our Sinnoh Frontier dealing with the Festival Plaza Battle Agency that Sophocles, the Plaza creator, made, then we are covering all ends perfectly." Scott inferred.

"So what battling types are there in the Battle Tree?" Greta asked.

"I was just getting to that. They have Singles, Doubles, and Multi Battles. We are doing the higher ranked versions as per request, which means you have to win fifty battles. So who wants to do what? I don't care who as long as they think they can win all the battles." He informed them.

"I can take Doubles. I've been working on that with Tucker recently, so I'm good with it." Noland stated, which elicited a nod from Scott.

"Ash, you and Anabel have unmatched teamwork. If both of you can run through Multi, then I can take Singles." Greta stated.

"You sure Greta?" Ash asked. "Of course. It'll be a great challenge for my Pokémon. Yoish!" She yelled, which made everyone sweatdrop.

Ash and Anabel shared a glance before Anabel spoke for them. "We'll do it."

Scott grinned at the answers. "Alright! Looks like we have a game plan! And that's the most of what I needed you all for. Now I recommend you all go watch Spenser and Brandon's match or just enjoy the rest of the day. You can all go, except for Ash. Someone wants to visit with you."

"Alright." Ash said as he sat back down.

Everyone else started piling out of the meeting room, wanting to leave Ash and Scott to their own devices. Anabel was going to be the last one out, but Scott stopped her.

"Anabel, V you can stay too. They did mainly want to talk with Ash, but they also mentioned you briefly."

Anabel was hesitant, but she finally closed the door and sat down next to Ash again, while V continued standing, thinking.

"So who requested to speak with me?" Ash wondered. Upon thinking about it, nobody could have made a request to meet with him unless it had been made during or just before his match, which made no sense how that could have happened.

"Well, you already know who he is." Scott told him. "He caught me while I had to grab my laptop during your battle and asked me to set this up. He said that he had a very important thing to tell you." He added.

"Ok... well bring them in." Ash stated as he leaned back in his chair a bit.

Scott moved towards the door and beckoned someone through. When they stepped in, both Ash and Anabel recoiled back, knocking the chairs over, and grabbed Poke Balls from their belts, while V instinctively sent out Registeel. Their three glares launched quickly at the person.

"What do you want?" Ash growled angrily.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I hope you're ready. There's no backing out from this now."

"I should be asking you that."

The Galarian duo of Callum and Gloria laughed lightly at each other as they prepared to do their first tag team battle of the tournament. They were well equipped to fight Morty and Pryce, but that did not mean that they wouldn't take this battle seriously like they did with all their other battles. As gym leaders that are usually fought near the middle and end of the Johto Gym Circuit, these two gym leaders were considered fierce and skilled in numerous ways.

Gloria looked at Callum briefly. "So we have our battle strategy laid out. Now what do we do about Hop and Marnie?"

Callum crossed his arms. "You still don't want to talk to them I take it?"

Gloria looked down. "It's not exactly that." She admitted. "It's... every time I look at them, my memories resurface from when I lost to Leon." She then noticed the look on Callum's face. "I'm not afraid of losing to Leon, Callum. I can take a loss." Gloria added before hugging herself almost protectively. "I want to forgive them, but every time they get close, that memory... that feeling... it resurfaces. It's almost like PTSD."

Callum shrugged before pulling her close. "I understand. But you have to promise me that you'll try to work through it. It's rough... feeling like all the friends that you made seemingly abandoned you. But if you want to forgive them, then you have to tell them face to face. Do you think you can do that at some point?" She nodded in return. "Good." He finished.

Their platform started to move, indicating that it was their turn on the battlefield.

"Alright, now let's show those two gym leaders what for." He grinned, Gloria sharing his enthusiasm as she grinned alongside him.

Upon reaching the top of the platform, they caught the eyes of both Johto Gym leaders, immediately shifting into battle mode almost like a shift in gears. Morty and Pryce are considered two of the stronger gym leaders in Johto due to both their experiences and their mastery of their specific types. However, they knew that while this would come down to a fight of skill and strategy, the chosen types that the duo had would ultimately be their downfall.

Pryce spoke out loud, talking directly to the duo in front of them. "I've heard a few things about you two. Namely, you." He pointed directly at Gloria. "Rumor has it that you made a complete disappearing act after losing your battle against Champion Leon."

That made Gloria frown. "The rumor mill already has information on me?" She questioned aloud, glancing at Callum. "I would think there would be more time in between my return to battling and the rumor mill starting than just two days."

"Well don't look at me. This is the first I've heard of it coming up too." He promised her.

"Actually..." Morty interrupted sheepishly. "A few of us may have overheard some people discussing this last night."

After a comment like that, they knew what he meant. The duo had planned at eating at a local diner last night, but many different representatives from different regions were eating there too. This also included Hop and Marnie, which prompted Gloria and Callum to reschedule for tonight.

"So that's where you heard it." Callum muttered. "Fair enough I guess. But why bring it up?"

"Some things are best verified at the source." Pryce explained. "Though I understand if you'd rather not talk about it."

Gloria and Callum looked at each other, shrugging in unison. Gloria looked at them. "For time sake, I'll make this quick. The short version is that after I lost, I needed to go take care of something important, so I left the stadium early. Then I decided to go on a training journey with Callum, and before long, here I am. Will that suffice?"

Pryce nodded. "That will do. But now, I think we have a battle to get to, don't you?" He quizzed, prompting a grin from both trainers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"What?"

"She didn't tell them? Why?"

Leon frowned as well, hearing the voices from Hop and Marnie. He recently left the Champions Box so he could watch this match with them both. He was currently with the pair and a few of the other gym leaders in the Galar representatives box when he managed to hear what Gloria had told Pryce and Morty. If he was being honest, he expected her to reveal exactly what happened, and apparently so were his brother and Marnie.

"I can't believe she didn't say it. She had no reason to hide it." He stated in mild shock.

"Well then you can consider yourself lucky."

Leon turned his head towards his left, viewing Bea, who was sitting a few chairs away from them. Bea was one of several who were livid about what happened with Gloria back then, and while she did end up forgiving Leon, she doesn't forget easily, and promised that until Gloria forgave him, he wouldn't live this failure down.

Not that he planned to let himself do so either.

She turned her head to face him, a neutral gaze being shot his way. "It seems that even after what happened, she has enough care for you to keep this little affair private." She exclaimed. "I'd count your blessings now Leon, because if I were Gloria, I wouldn't have lied like that."

"Believe me, I know." He muttered, looking down. "But to still go so far as to hide from us? Why?"

"Privacy for the tournament, maybe. Or maybe she is still upset about what happened." Raihan, who was in between the pair mentioned. He forgave Leon for what he did too, but he never really spent time reminding him about what happened, unlike Bea. He had too much of a bond with his rival to do that to him. "Either way, it comes down to her being willing to talk to you, not you making her talk."

"Agreed." Bea nodded. "Now that we have a second, can we talk about who this Callum person is? From what it sounded like, he offered to take Gloria out on a training trip, probably to the Isle of Armor. Gloria wouldn't have gone with him if she didn't trust him. So what's with him?"

"Well he's a Pokémon Ranger, that much is for sure. You see that jacket?" Raihan pointed out, which made a few of the people there look at him and widen their eyes in surprise.

"Oh wow, he is." Milo, who was a row below them, stated. He didn't really care all too much about the Gloria and Leon situation, like a number of the other Galar gym leaders. It wasn't his business anyhow, so he never bothered with going on about it. "Imagine that. An actual Pokémon Ranger in a battling tournament. Who would've guessed?"

"Actually, I know him too." Leon said, drawing everyone's eyes. "He used to live in Postwick with us but he moved to Unova several years ago. Heck, he even went deep in the Champion Challenge in Unova, only losing to Alder himself if I remember right. He was friends with Hop and I, but him and Gloria used to be inseparable. Gloria was crying for days after he left."

"And from the sound of it, I guess he was watching Gloria's match with Leon in Wyndon at the time." Hop guessed. "Cause she left pretty much the following day. Which means that they met around that time and Gloria decided to go with him."

"So we have two trainers who are as strong as Elite 4 members, if not stronger?" Milo asked. "That's kinda terrifying if you ask me."

"Yeah no kidding." Marnie agreed. "They're some of the best, that's for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if they pass right through Pryce and Morty. They're good, but against Gloria and Callum, I'm not so sure."

"It's too early to make calls. The battle just started. Now let's watch." Leon hushed them as their attention turned back to the battlefield.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"The tag team battle between Gym Leaders Pryce and Morty and the duo of Gloria and Callum is about to begin. Now, Trainers. Send out your Pokémon!"

Morty and Pryce both pulled out Poke Balls and tossed them in an instant. "Go, Glalie!" "Dusclops, come on out!"

Out came the two Pokémon of the gym leaders, appearing with loud cries before settling in front of their trainers. Gloria exchanged looks with Callum and both of them nodded. This lead was one that they were prepared for.

"Blaziken, let's begin!" "Spiritomb, double time!"

Within a few seconds, two Pokémon that not many people had expected to see come out onto the field appeared. Especially when it came to the Spiritomb. Most of the crowd was driven into a small silence, unnerved by having a Spiritomb in their presence.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"What in the world...?" Hop muttered, eyes widened while looking at the strange Pokémon in front of him. "A Spiritomb of all things? That gives me the creeps."

"You better be lucky Allister is busy prepping with Gordie, or otherwise he might not have liked to hear that." Bea mentioned, making Hop wince and mumble an apology. "Though I can see what you mean. Spiritomb, despite it's rarity, isn't exactly a well-liked Pokémon, even by some Ghost enthusiasts. Even they get creeped out talking about it." She added. "To think Gloria actually found one and caught it too..."

"It just speaks volumes of her commitment." Raihan stated, drawing a couple odd looks. "What?"

"I'm with Raihan on this one." Leon agreed, drawing a few gazes as well. "Spiritomb is not only notoriously rare, but also incredibly difficult to train and take care of. The only trainer I've heard of that has actually trained one to a high level is Cynthia. If Gloria is confident using it in battle, it would mean that she has raised it well."

"We'll see about that." Marnie muttered, still not shaking the eerie vibe she got from the Forbidden Pokémon.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Both sides are ready. In that case, let the battle... begin!" The ref threw his flags downward.The moment the flags were lowered, both sides were off like a race.

"Glalie, use Water Pulse!" "Dusclops, use Shadow Ball."

"Smokescreen!" "Dive into the smoke too!"

Spiritomb let out a purple and black smoke that seemed to coat the entire battlefield, hiding itself and Blaziken from view. When the Shadow Ball and Water Pulse flew near where the pair were, no sound was made, meaning that they moved out of the way.

"So that's how they want to play it." Pryce muttered. "Glalie, use Spikes!" "Dusclops, use Calm Mind and try to find them!"

Glalie started taking in ground energy as little brown spikes formed on it's body, preparing to shoot out from it. Meanwhile, Dusclops started to calm itself down and hone it's senses, it's body taking on a small glow as it signified a stat raise.

Gloria and Callum however, only appeared unfazed. But nobody notice the barely seeable traces of knowing looks upon their faces. "Burning Jealousy!" "Fire Spin!"

The moment that Calm Mind had ended, Dusclops had turned to face towards his right, but was immediately faced with a wave of Fire Type energy, which struck it head on. The force of the blast had immediately knocked it over, but Dusclops was already getting to it's feet. However, the moment it got up, a wave of fire engulfed it again, except that this was from no attack.

Meanwhile, Glalie had just launched it's spikes outward, but before they could get far, Fire Spin had engulfed him, taking the spikes and charring them, making them useless. Meanwhile, Glalie was trapped and was taking continuous damage straight from the Fire Spin.

The smokescreen was finally fading, letting both parties see their Pokémon in front of them. However, Pryce and Morty were slightly baffled to see one of their Pokémon trapped while another one was suffering from a burn.

"Glalie, reverse Gyro Ball! Try to stuff out the flames!"

"Dusclops, keep them off with a Shadow Punch!"

"Sucker Punch, then use Dark Pulse!"

"Blaziken, use Fire Pledge and keep those flames going!"

Immediately, Dusclops was stopped in his tracks by a quick hit from Sucker Punch, stopping the Shadow Punch from forming and allowing Spiritomb to shoot a Dark Pulse into Dusclops, knocking it towards Glalie, who was managing to stuff out most of the flames. They collided as the Fire Pledge formed around the two Pokémon, engulfing them again in a geyser of heat and adding onto the damage.

Both Pokémon tried to stand up, hoping to get back into the fight, but Gloria and Callum had other plans. "Now-" They stated in sync. "-use Dark Flamethrower!"

Both Blaziken and Spiritomb appeared near each other, forming their respective attacks of Flamethrower and Dark Pulse before launching them. As they fired them, the beams of energy circled each other before fusing, turning the Flamethrower into an eerie violet as it collided with the two opposing Pokémon in a brief explosion.

As the smoke died down, Dusclops and Glalie were down for the count, prompting the ref to raise his flags. "Dusclops and Glalie are unable to battle. Blaziken and Spiritomb win."

The crowd, now forgetting their eerie thoughts of Spiritomb from before, let out a thunderous roar at the display that they had witnessed, finding it remarkably similar to the battle that they had witnessed earlier.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Woah. That was mental!" Hop exclaimed.

"Talk about a commanding lead. That Dark Flamethrower just shows how comfortable they are as partners." Marnie said. "It's rare to see move combinations like that outside of contests."

"Not to mention their strategy was on point. It's almost like they knew what Pryce and Morty were going to do before they did it." Raihan muttered.

"Well Gloria has always been good at strategy, and Callum didn't make it all the way to Alder on sheer luck. Those two are master strategists. It's hard to trump people like them." Leon stated. "And it's not over quite yet." He said, making the others look back at the field."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After Pryce and Morty recalled their Pokémon, Morty took a moment to look at the pair. "You're both good. No doubt about that. Raising a Spiritomb of all Pokémon so well says a lot about you as a trainer. Not to mention that Blaziken is pretty strong too. One of the strongest I've seen in a long time."

"Thank you for the kind words." Callum responded, Gloria nodding with him.

Morty smirked. "However, don't think we plan to sit down and let you run all over us! Gengar, come on out!" "Dewgong, go!"

The two fully evolved Pokémon appeared on the field, landing with resounding thuds. Callum and Gloria nodded to each other, both content to keep their Pokémon on the field. They signaled the ref to continue, who nodded and rose his flags. "Dewgong and Gengar vs Spiritomb and Blaziken. Let the battle... begin!"

"Blaziken, use Protect!" "Spiritomb, Shock Wave."

Blaziken formed a barrier around itself as Spiritomb started charging electricity before releasing it all across the battlefield. Blaziken protected itself from part of it, but the rest was coming straight to Dewgong and Gengar."

"Gengar, phase through the floor." "Dewgong, use Aqua Ring."

Gengar's entire body flattened as it went onto the floor, the Shock Wave going right past it. Meanwhile, several rings of water formed around Dewgong, the electricity hitting the rings and seemingly doing nothing to the Sea Lion Pokémon.

"Well someone's learned from Skyla. That's her trick that she uses on Swanna." Callum muttered. "And that phasing through the floor is a thing Agatha's Gengar does too."

"Well they are gym leaders after all. They're bound to have a few tricks up their sleeves too." Gloria admitted calmly before her eyes narrowed. "That Aqua Ring will only help with long range electric and fire attacks. It'll go away soon, but we'll have to shift our approach."

"It seems you aren't attacking. I hope you haven't given up." Morty asked calmly. "Gengar, use Sludge Bomb on Spiritomb." "Dewgong, Water Pulse."

Gengar came off of the ground and flew up into the air. The ghost formed a large amount of poison energy from it's hands, shooting it off in a ball that was aimed straight at Spiritomb. Meanwhile, Dewgong, shot off a Water Pulse from it's mouth and into the ground, forming a wave of water to attack the pair with."

"Blaziken, dodge it!" "Spiritomb, use Double Team!"

Blaziken shot off in a blaze of speed, surprising a majority of the people in the arena as it seemingly teleported away. Spiritomb, meanwhile, transformed into a large amount of copies, filling up their side of the arena. Sludge Bomb slammed into one of the Spiritombs, but it phased out, confirming it as a copy. However, the wave of water from Water Pulse came and managed to strike the Spiritomb, washing him into the center of the field while also coating the field, turning it into one giant puddle.

"Shrug it off Spiritomb. We can do this!" Gloria commanded as Spiritomb got off the ground, Blaziken appearing next to him while panting. It was clear that the raging battles were taking their toll on them, so they needed to finish this off before they got hit again.

"Now use Ice Beam on the water!" Pryce ordered his Dewgong.

"Oh no you don't! Blaziken, High Jump Kick!" Callum and Gloria knew that if he turned the field icy, he lost his advantage that he had with Speed Boost, as Blaziken wouldn't have a firm stance on a slippery floor. Their priority now would be to stop them from doing it.

"Gengar, stop him with Psychic!"

"Ally Switch into Shadow Ball!"

Gengar's eyes changed blue as it attempted to form a Psychic hold on Blaziken, who had started rushing in the direction of Dewgong. However, at the last second, Blaziken was gone and replaced with it was Spiritomb, who took the Psychic, completely shrugging it off thanks to it's Dark typing. Immediately, it formed the ominous ball of ghost energy, launching it straight into Gengar, who took it full force, still caught off guard by Ally Switch.

As for Blaziken, he had appeared near the middle of the field, closer to Dewgong than before. Before the Ice Beam could be shot, Dewgong was kicked straight in the side knocking it over with a splash from the puddle and making the ice attack shoot off into the sky.

"Dewgong, Aqua Jet!" Pryce called out, hoping to take advantage of the close environment.

"Gengar, fire your own Shadow Ball!" Morty commanded, noticing the spot Spiritomb was in.

Gloria and Callum nodded to each other. They knew what to do next, but their timing had to be perfect. "Blaziken, backpedal then hold your position until I say." "Spiritomb, substitute."

Blaziken flipped backwards several yards before standing still, watching with a keen eye as Dewgong shot at him like a torpedo. Spiritomb managed to divide his health into another copy, both of them splitting off and avoiding the Shadow Ball. Both copies stood at different sides of Gengar.

Morty looked for a brief instant before seeing one copy looked more tired than the other. "Quick, Shadow Ball on the left!"

Gengar shot a rapid Shadow Ball, striking at the Spiritomb on the left, which after being struck, disappeared. Morty cried out in shock "No way!"

"Psychic!"

In a heartbeat, Gengar was caught in a Psychic hold by a grinning Spiritomb. Gengar was tossed around a bit, splashing up some water from the puddle before Gloria called out to him. "Now do it!"

Spiritomb threw Gengar with his Psychic hold straight towards Blaziken. However, Blaziken was not paying attention to Gengar, instead watching Dewgong for a brief second. Callum then smirked. "Now jump, then Fire Spin!"

At the last second, Blaziken jumped narrowly avoiding the Gengar rocketing right past them.

And right towards Dewgong.

Pryce balked. "What!? Dewgong, get out of there!"

It was too late for Dewgong to change directions as it collided with Gengar. Both of the Pokémon struck one another, falling right onto the ground. Just as they hit the ground, they were surrounded by a tornado of fire with no way out, taking extra damage as the attack proceeded and forming steam as nearby water proceeded to evaporate.

Gloria and Callum then threw their hands out together. "Time to end this!" They spoke. "Shadow Burn!"

Spiritomb formed a large amount of Shadow Balls while Blaziken was consumed by a red aura. Blaziken stepped onto the ground, fire energy erupting, tossing up the ground and forming steam from the water before it was about to collide with the opposing Pokémon. At the same time, Spiritomb launched a barrage of Shadow Balls straight at the opposing Pokémon too. Both attacks collided and a large explosion overtook the battlefield.

When the smoke and steam died down, Gengar and Dewgong had swirls in their eyes while Blaziken and Spiritomb looked noticeably tired.

"Gengar and Dewgong are unable to battle! Spiritomb and Blaziken win!" The ref declared. "The match goes to Gloria and Callum!"

The crowd erupted in excitement, cheering all the way for the heated battle. Gloria and Callum smiled to each other, not giving the crowd another thought. They returned their Pokémon and looked as Pryce and Morty walked up to them, returning their Pokémon and thanking them as they went.

"That was an excellent battle. Both of you were wonderful." Pryce exclaimed, Morty nodding in agreement.

"Thanks. But our Pokémon did a lot of the heavy lifting." Callum answered modestly.

"You are being too modest." Morty told him with a smile. "Sure, your Pokemon were the ones shooting attacks, but it's a two way street. As trainers, we're out there battling with them no matter what." He explained.

"Your strategy was impeccable and you were both incredibly in sync with not only your Pokémon, but with each other." Pryce added. "It reminds me of my youth when my Piloswine and I were at the top of our game. You all did wonderfully out there."

"Now make sure you win this thing for us." Morty finished.

"We'll do our best. Thanks." They both smiled in return, shaking hands with the gym leaders and walking off the field with a wonderful feeling after the conclusion of that battle.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The entire Galar box was in silence after witnessing that match. The amount of skill showcased in that match had stunned them, making words harder than ever to form. It took a moment, but finally, they were able to talk again.

"That was... insane." Milo mumbled.

"No kidding." Bea agreed. "That battle just shows the level of skill that those two have. I almost want to fight them too."

"Gloria's gotten a lot better. Even though Spiritomb took a hit, she kept damage taken to a minimal. And Callum's Blaziken seems to have Speed Boost. Never thought I would see one in person." Leon commented.

"Yeah. And their strategy and synergy was off the charts. That almost reminded me of those two Frontier Brains from earlier." Raihan exclaimed.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go talk to them!" Hop exclaimed, rushing off.

"Hop, hold on!" Marnie got up and raced after him.

Bea sighed. "Well... that might end poorly." She mumbled.

Leon got up. "I'll go with them. Just to make sure that they don't do anything reckless."

"Don't." Raihan protested.

"What? But why?" Leon asked. "I'm not going to try and be rash if that's what you think."

"I'm not saying that." He claimed.

"Then what is it?"

"It's because you'll get lost on the way there."

"..."

"..."

"...you have a point." Leon relented, sitting down the next moment. "Fine, I'll stay."

That got a chuckle out of all of them. "Just go with them next time Leon. They should be fine."

Leon inwardly sighed. 'I'm afraid of not having a next time.' He thought silently. 'I've already lost one opportunity after all.'

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, our favorite infamous group was telling off Serena and Clemont for losing as bad as they did. And from an eyewitness standpoint, it does not look pretty. The pair were sitting in seats out somewhere in the plateau while the entire group glared at them.

"You two are pathetic! How could you lose to Ketchum!" Paul fumed.

"We can't keep up with that pace. Those Fighting types moved like they were on caffeine or something." Serena protested weakly.

May rolled her eyes. "So what? Ash is weak, and Anabel is not that much better without her empathy skill."

"Well then we need to learn what they did to their Pokémon. Cause that was not normal speed." Clemont stated in an assured tone.

Max then looked around quickly. "Wait, where's Brock?"

"He said he was getting extra supplies for cooking lunch later. But he never said how long it will take." Cilan informed them.

"Well alright. We can go hunt down Ash without him." Misty shrugged, standing up along with the others and walking away.

However, as they said that, two people noticed what had just happened and nodded to each other, following behind the group at a distance.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"I'm only asking one more time. What are you doing here?" Ash demanded.

"Scott, why did you let him in!" Anabel snapped at the older man.

Scott held his hands up. "Sorry! I made sure he was checked before entering anyways. You can kick him out if you want, but he came in here without his Pokémon."

"Ash, let me explain-" The guy started.

"No, Brock. You explained everything two years ago! I'm not the same trusting person I once was." Ash sneered.

The Pokémon Doctor chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I can see."

If he was trying to make them laugh a bit, then they weren't buying it. "Just say it and get it over with before we lose our patience." Anabel growled.

"And I send you barreling out the room" V added darkly.

Brock sighed. "Ok. Ash... I'm sorry. Trip and Iris forced me into it."

Silence followed right after. Ash stood there for a second, thinking that Brock would actually come up with a better response than that, but he just stood there. "That's it?! That's your response?! That's such a good reason to betray my trust!" Ash snapped with sarcasm.

Brock faltered as he lowered his head down. "..."

"Pffft" V said, trying not to choke on the lame excuse

"If that was your piss poor show of a reason, then you can just leave right now." Ash inferred angrily.

"...he took our gym." Brock mumbled just loud enough to hear.

Ash, Anabel, and V paused briefly, then frowned. "Wait, what?"

"Just as I said. I got my bachelors from the college I was attending at the time. But after I came back, I saw Trip and Iris in the gym with Forrest beaten up badly, and all his Poke Balls were on the floor next to him. They said that they had the gym deed and said they would give me back the deed and Forrest if I stopped supporting you."

Now it seemed like this was getting somewhere. Ash crossed his arms. "What about your dad and mom?" He questioned.

"They, along with my brothers and sisters were on a family vacation to the Orange Islands. Forrest didn't want to go, and I had to complete my finals, so we were the only ones still around. I knew I couldn't beat them two against one, and I couldn't risk Forrest. I'm sorry." Brock finished.

"What do you think?" Ash asked Anabel. He couldn't completely tell, but something was nagging him in the back of the mind that Brock may actually be dead truthful.

"Umm... it's tough to say, actually. I can feel that he told the truth, but it feels... kind of like there is something else. There is a lot of mixed emotions. He might be holding something back." Anabel concluded.

"Judging from the look on his face and the tone, he seems completely truthful." V added. Ash and Anabel stared at him. "What? It's skill I have."

Ash turned back to Brock. "Is there anything else we should know?"

Brock hesitated, but finally relented. "After you left, we went to the gym to get everything back... but Trip beat me there and set it on fire with Forrest in it."

The other four gasped. "That was what caused the fire I saw on the news three days later?" Scott questioned.

Brock nodded grimly. "Yeah. Forrest survived, but he was in a coma for a month and had Physical Therapy for 3 months after that." He exclaimed. "We're lucky he even made a full enough recovery to run the gym again."

"Oh my Arceus, Brock." Anabel brought her hand to her mouth.

"And you still hang around them?!" Ash asked like Brock was crazy.

"I have to. Otherwise, Trip and the others will start something again. I'm playing a risk just by talking to you." Brock exclaimed.

Anabel looked on the verge of tears while Ash finally released his pent up anger. He slammed his hand down on the desk with enough force to break it (thankfully, it didn't), causing everyone to look at him. "First they threaten Bonnie's Dedenne, then they threaten an entire family?" He growled. "Something needs to be done about this."

Ash tossed a look to Scott. "Can you call in a favor from Lance?"

"G-men?"

"Yes."

Scott gave a wry smile as he walked to the door. "Give me five minutes."

As he left, Ash sighed as he sat his head on the table, stress building within him like he wanted to scream. "They have gone too far this time!"

Anabel came close and wrapped her arms around him, saying soothing words in his ears as he slowly began to relax a bit more. This went on for a few minutes until he finally relaxed entirely and felt his troubles melt away.

'I'm so glad to have a girlfriend with empathy abilities.' Ash thought to himself, then caught his sentence. 'Wait, what am I thinking? Anabel wouldn't like me like that. Right?'

He didn't know how wrong he was.

Brock looked down in silence, not sure what else to say other than a few simple but powerful words. "Thank you, Ash. I appreciate this more than you'll ever know."

"It's alright Brock. I'm just glad you found the guts to come tell me when you did." Ash reassured him as Anabel held him close.

Then Brock finally noticed just how close Ash and Anabel were sitting and smirked. "Wait. Are you two..."

"Don't say it." Ash warned him.

"Dating?!" Brock said louder than was necessary.

The pair started blushing while Brock and V started laughing. "Oh my Arceus. Someone finally broke through! Oh if Bonnie heard about this one..." He stopped as he saw Ash's expression.

"...she already knows, doesn't she?" He asked.

"Long story." They stated together.

Brock thought for a second. "You said something about her earlier too. Is she on your side too?" He questioned.

Ash groaned. "Yeah, but I'm not sure how much the good outweighs the bad. And no! We aren't dating, but she wants us to."

"Well she's a good battler, but your love life will probably get a lot more interesting." Brock joked.

"And annoying." V followed.

Ash groaned again as he felt his head fall to the table. "Why can't people just stop assuming things? First Lillie, then Bonnie, and now Brock. Who's next, Lance?" He mused mainly to himself.

He heard the door open. "Well thanks for the warning. If I had not heard that, I would've assumed the same as Brock considering the display of pure teamwork I saw on the battlefield."

Everyone looked up to see the red haired dragon trainer walking through the door with Scott following suit. He had a look of slight amusement plastered on his face aimed at Ash, which was a far cry from the normally neutral gaze he always wore in public.

"Been a while Lance." Ash said.

"I could say the same. Frontier Brain, huh? I had never heard that you took part in it." Lance inferred.

"Well times have changed a lot recently. But I need a favor." Ash stated.

"And that would be?" Lance rose an eyebrow.

Ash explained everything that led up to the moment they were in, excluding a few minor in between details. After the explanation, Lance nodded, seemingly understanding their concerns entirely. He crossed his arms as his fingertips on his right hand drilled rhythmically on the side of his other arm.

"I knew that Pewter Gym fire seemed fishy. And I can't press charges without evidence, so you need me to keep G-Men in Pewter, namely near Brock's family home, in case something happens like before? And have someone watching Forrest during the tournament?" He asked.

"If it isn't too much to ask." Ash elaborated.

"I owe you for all your help back in the day. This isn't too much to ask at all." Lance smiled, which invoked a sigh of relief. "But on one condition."

"And that is?" Ash frowned.

His arms uncrossed as he caught Ash's eyes with his own. "I want to battle you. Full strength. If it isn't during the tournament, then I ask that we battle after the tournament." Lance stated with a serious look.

Ash almost couldn't believe what he just heard, but he knows that his ears weren't playing tricks on him. But to think that a champion had asked to have a battle with him just hit him differently for some odd reason.

But as his ten year old self would have been knowingly ecstatic, his more controlled nature as the Castle Guardian took over. He calmed his thoughts as he asked a question. "Full battle or 3 on 3?"

"I would enjoy full if you don't mind. Normal rules as well." Lance elaborated.

Ash seemed satisfied with the conditions and smiled at the Dragon Tamer. "I accept."

Lance smiled in return. "I'm glad you did. I'm eager to see just how far you've come."

He then glanced at Brock with a slightly more serious expression. "I'll get ten of my G-men over to Pewter to stake observation on your house for a while, and I'll have a stealth operative keep an eye on you and your brother. I hope that sated your fear of being around your best friend again."

Brock nodded. "It does. Thank you so much Lance."

The Johto Champion nodded. "No problem. Now I have to go prepare. Steven and I are preparing for our match in an hour. I wish you luck in the tournament Ash, Anabel."

Lance then walked to the door and opened it before pausing. "And don't think I'm the only champion eager to face you. Or the Salon Maiden."

He walked out, leaving the group dumbfounded as they tried to decipher the code Lance just left them. What did Lance mean when he meant that champions were eager to face them? It couldn't mean...

Ash finally spoke, looking at Scott. "You don't think they all saw mine and Anabel's match, do you?"

Scott frowned in thought. "Well a lot of higher ups were watching. Mainly cause you had yet to make an appearance as our newest Brain for an entire year. So I can only assume all the Champions saw it."

Anabel widened her eyes. "Then could that mean-"

"Maybe. Any one of them could definitely could want to tag battle against you two or even do single battles. It's a bold call, but your skill is some of the best seen in your generation, not to mention your teamwork together outpaces Liza and Tate by miles, and they're twin psychics. I think you two are going to have an interesting tournament on your hands." Scott inferred.

Ash sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. "I have champions wanting to face me, traitors that probably want me dead for a stupid reason, and it's only been about three days. Sounds like my life in a nutshell."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"Is he going to show up any time soon?" Lillie heard Hau wonder.

Lillie had begun to wonder that too. After all, once the match was over with, they had been sitting in the common room for at least half an hour, waiting to see if they would show. Ash had promised her when he talked to them before their battle that as long as he was done with Frontier business quickly enough, then he would try to make it to the Pokémon Center. But so far, he has yet to show.

"I'm not sure. Neither of their Pokémon looked remotely worn out, so they may not need to come to speak with Nurse Joy. They are also really busy-"

"We're talking about Ash here. What does the girl have to do with this?"

"Gladion! That's rude!" Lillie snapped. "Besides, Anabel is really nice. You haven't met her yet, but that's no reason to act like that." She chided him, making him look away.

"Is that them walking through the door now?" Acerola asked suddenly.

Lillie turned, and sure enough, the Frontier Trio were just coming through the door with Brock in tow. And what shocked Lillie is they were being nice to him. The Alolans all charged towards the Frontier Brain quickly.

"-and then he ran all over with Quick Attack trying to get away with the Ketchup so he could eat it in peace. Luckily Espeon stopped him and scolded him for doing that. And that was the last time he tried it." Ash finished, Brock, Anabel, and V laughing lightly at the story.

"I think Pikachu is obsessed." Brock he said after he cut off his laughing.

Ash rolled his eyes as he playfully glared at the mouse on his shoulder who had the decency to look sheepish. "Tell me about it. How does Espeon put up with that, Anabel?"

Anabel smiled and resumed petting the Psychic cat on her shoulder. "Simple. Psychic types are naturally patient."

"Well then I need a Psychic type for when you aren't visiting at Mt. Silver." Ash mused.

"You're in luck Ash" V said smugly. "I've got too many Ralts to handle, so you can have one when Annabel isn't visiting Mt. Silver."

"Which is what? Every other week?" Anabel thought aloud.

"Yeah, when Mike is in town to ref." Ash replied. "I know he is taking night classes in Saffron for his Pokémon Therapy degree, but having to rely on you to ref is too much trouble. I don't like bothering you."

"It doesn't bother me. I live an hour away by flight, so I enjoy when I can visit." Anabel smiled at him, making him smile back.

"Well if you enjoy it-"

"Ash!"

Ash turned slowly. "Huh? Who said my- AH!"

He was cut off by a hug from Lana, Acerola and Mallow as they practically suffocated the Castle Guardian. Pikachu hopped off quickly and climbed atop Anabel's free shoulder. Ash almost collapsed from the weight of the three Alolans, but he held his ground. But one could tell his air was running dreadfully low.

"Anabel... if I don't... survive... tell Noland... you get the... fifty bucks he owes me." Ash managed to say.

Anabel giggled. "Alright. Can you three stop death hugging him? He's losing air."

As the two girls eventually let him go, Hau ran up to him with his signature grin while Gladion simply walked up to him, a tinge of annoyance evident in his expression, but a small smile curled in his lips.

Hau looked him over for a second before finally speaking. "It really is you!"

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, it is me. How have you been Mr. Alolan Champ? Congrats by the way." Him and Hau grasped hands before giving each other a friendly hug, breaking apart soon after.

"Thanks. And I'm great, but the real question is what about you? We thought you died." Hau exclaimed.

"Yeah you can blame my former mom for that." Ash sighed in mild annoyance.

"Miss Ketchum? Why would she do it?" Lana asked from the side.

"Long story. You see-" Anabel started.

"Ash can speak for himself you know." Gladion crossed his arms.

"Gladion!" Lillie snapped.

"What? I'd rather hear it from him." The blonde said casually.

"That doesn't excuse you being rude Gladion." Ash stated, crossing his arms with a frown. "Apologize."

A couple of the Alolans off to the side frowned. Since when did Ash get so defensive of someone?

"Alright, fine. I'm sorry." He said to Anabel, who smiled and nodded in assurance that all was well. "Now we have a lot of questions we need answers to Ketchum. So let's start talking." Gladion demanded.

"Ok fine emo boy. I'll talk." Ash joked mildly.

After a quick explanation of the events leading to his being added to the Frontier, a few details being excluded for private reasons that Ash and Anabel refused to crack on (as said reasons featured a number of legendary Pokémon matters and private Frontier business), which kind of upset a few of them. However, Gladion tried to pry more, but the pair still didn't budge.

"-and so I went and became a Frontier Brain under mainly Anabel and Spenser's guidance. It was more Anabel, but they both helped me a lot."

"I know there is something else Ash." Gladion claimed, trying to pry more. "You've been dodging some of my questions most of this conversation."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Look Gladion, it's private Frontier business. Even if I wanted to, I can't say."

"Alright fine." He muttered.

"Wait, so what about those people that went against you. You said a few of them are here, right?" Acerola asked.

"Yeah, a few of them are here. But they aren't worth it. I already dealt with them some during my battle, so I'm not going to worry about it." He told them, which drew nods from them. "Now, we were planning on going to lunch. I assume you guys just waited for me here, so I guess we can all go." Ash concluded.

Everyone spoke a resounding "yeah" as everyone prepared to get moving. But before they even could leave, they heard a familiar, yet unwanted sound of an annoying redhead.

"Hey Ketchum!"

"Oh Arceus, and it was going so well." Ash groaned as he turned to Anabel. "Please be ready to calm me down. I already feel like mauling them like an Ursaring after what happened with Brock."

Anabel smiled reassuringly. "I've got you." She promised.

As they all turned, they saw all of them standing there with malicious looks on their faces. They aimed their looks at Ash as they prepared to speak, but then they saw Brock.

"Brock, what are you doing there? Get over here and help us." Misty demanded.

"Not on your life." He said, crossing his arms. "I'm out of your little gang. Now get out of here

"Are you sure about that?" Trip smirked knowingly. "Or are you forgetting something?"

"I I already got that covered, Trip. You can't touch him." Ash stated nonchalantly, drawing heated glares from his former friends.

"Shut it weakling, we weren't talking to you!" Serena snapped.

Anabel rolled her eyes. "We kicked your butts without trying. So I would watch who you call weak."

Max scoffed. "This coming from the girl who relies on her telepathic abili-"

"Empathetic, you idiot. You were there when she told us. And she didn't need it to beat you two." Ash cut him off. "Now leave before I have to call the cops. Harassing a league official or a Frontier official is liable for jail time."

"Get it through your head! You aren't strong, you aren't special, and we deserve what you have much more than you cause of all the crap you put us through! So give up or we'll make you!" Paul yelled, drawing a Poke Ball.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Everyone turned their heads to see a heated glare coming from a blonde guy. He was wearing a Pokémon Ranger uniform while a girl wearing a training outfit was standing behind him. Both of them looked visibly annoyed.

"I suggest you take back what you said. I have the authority to bring you in for threats to tournament participants and private officials." The guy said.

"Callum! Gloria!" Ash called out to him, drawing a wink from the duo.

"We were trying to get him to stop participating because he drugs his Pokémon! His Lucario shouldn't have been able to move so fast in his match." Iris tried to lie.

Callum crossed his arms. "Funny that. I've known Ash for at least a while now, so I would know if he drugged his Pokémon. So I'm gonna have to say... well, you're just wrong." He answered casually.

As the words were being exchanged, two people had arrived on the scene and were watching it from afar. Hop and Marnie were thoroughly confused as to what they had stumbled upon, but decided that they should try to sit back and understand before jumping in.

"And what gives you that right to decide like that!" Max glared before his sister hit him on the head.

"Idiot! That's a Pokémon Ranger!" She exclaimed, pointing at the badge on Callum's right shoulder, while Max rubbed the bump forming on his head.

"Not just any Pokémon Ranger." Callum drew their eyes again. "I'm the best healer in the Ranger Corps. If any of you are familiar with the rangers, you might know me as Callum Bale."

A few of them frowned before Dawn's eyes widened. "Wait, the Miracle Maker?! You're that guy that goes around several regions healing Pokémon injured in different accidents! Some say you even helped heal a really dangerous Moltres when it's wounds were fatal!" Several of them widened their eyes.

Callum frowned and glanced at Gloria. "I thought everyone was going to keep quiet about that." He muttered quietly while Gloria shrugged, clearly just as confused about hearing that story again.

Trip's eyes narrowed quickly, his mind trying to remember where he heard that name before he looked panic struck. "Wait, I know you! You're that guy that almost beat Alder several years ago!" The rest all suddenly looked scared of Callum.

He tilted his head. "Oh you remember that match? That was quite a while ago." He exclaimed. "But whatever. That's besides the point. If you've heard of me, then you know my healing skills are verified. Ash and Anabel are clean of drugs. Your claim has no merit." That made a few of them flinch.

"Quite honestly, you lot are all disappointments among Pokémon Trainers." Gloria fired back. "What is the point of even coming after Ash in the first place? Because frankly, all you seem to be doing is making fools of yourselves." She reprimanded them.

"And who asked you!?" Paul countered.

"Enough!" Callum barked. "I won't have this happen in the middle of the Pokémon Center. Leave now or we're placing you under arrest for disorderly conduct against a private official."

The traitors burst laughing at the threat, but stopped when V pulled out his phone. On his screen was the contact information of someone whose armor clearly gave away their position in the International Police. Worse, the name was written as "Corporal Havoc" Ash's "friends" immediately widened their eyes in fear, finally deciding that now would be a good idea to get out of here while they still had some room to. Within a few seconds, they had left, leaving the Alolan crew, Ash, Anabel, V and the Galar duo standing together.

"I knew they were annoying, but this trumps my expectations." Callum muttered.

"They're just so desperate over nothing that important. It's painful to watch." Gloria agreed.

"Can't believe they're still trying to discredit Ash from his win." V muttered, putting his phone away.

Ash released a pent up sigh as he looked down. "I'm glad that's over with in any regard. Thanks for helping us Callum. Gloria."

"Any time Ash. They honestly need to be knocked down a few pegs as it is." Gloria exclaimed, Callum nodding with her.

Anabel pulled Ash into a hug. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I almost lost my cool there. I can't wait to obliterate Paul and Trip." Ash stated, looking at the door in annoyance.

"Alright. But that's if we face them in the tag rounds. We only have one left before Top 256 singles kick off." Anabel mentioned.

"Yeah... I know we will win against them, but I'm still curious about Lance's little statement."

Callum frowned at that. "What are you on about?"

Ash shrugged. "It's nothing too important."

Anabel took over. "Lance challenged him to a 6 on 6 battle for the near future." She exclaimed, which prompted an elbow from Ash and a pointed look. She took on an innocent expression, which made Ash roll his eyes.

"A champion challenged you?!" Lillie asked in surprise as some of the other Alolans shared her surprise.

"Not so loud." He told her, which made her wince. "Yeah, he challenged me. And he said something about the other champions looking to battle me or Anabel in the future."

"Well he's not exactly wrong." Hau admitted. "I'm kind of on that wavelength too."

Ash flashed a grin. "Whenever you want, Hau. I'm for it."

Hau smirked back. "You can bet on that!"

Callum cleared his throat, garnering their attention. "That might have something to do with just how much growing you shown since you joined the Battle Frontier. Honestly, I can say from what you told me about the past, you've gotten a lot better. So the Champions are probably just curious."

"Leon was like that too with some challengers in Galar. Myself included." Gloria admitted. "Then again, he was endorsing me at the time and I was childhood friends with his brother, so I can kind of see why."

"So yeah, I wouldn't dwell on it until it happens. No use worrying, eh?" Callum asked with a small smirk.

Ash chuckled. "You got a point." He said, smiling.

"Anyways, I believe you said something about lunch, correct?" Gloria asked, which prompted a nod from the others. "Do you perchance have room for two more?"

"Of course! You're always welcome." Anabel told them.

"Nice! Just give us a minute to leave our Pokémon with Nurse Joy." The duo ran up to the nurse, who was still behind her desk with her Chansey.

Meanwhile, Hop and Marnie looked at each other. "Seems like they know each other." He told her.

"That much is obvious." Marnie rolled her eyes before looking at Gloria. "Still though. She looks really happy right now. I don't think I can bring myself to tear that mood down by bothering her."

"Callum has that effect on her. She's usually happy whenever he's around." Hop explained. "But you're right. We can do this another day. Now let's go back. My brother's probably wondering where we are, init?" He wondered, walking away with Marnie hot on his heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm considering if I should put this story on a temporary hiatus so this AU story can stay similar to OT(B). Then again, Bl0t0rch has College Studies to do, so don't go over and start nagging him.
> 
> I may have to put this story on hiatus anyway if I don't get enough OC ideas in (https://forms.gle/8gxsMdHyogRXxxp36). Honestly. I put it up for almost a month, and no one, not even one person, has submitted an idea. If you don't want this to happen, please at least submit an OC idea.
> 
> Jeez, this entire chapter is exactly 10,000 words long. That is very surprising


	8. Determination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Today (January 30, for those who don't know), for the first time, I watched a few episodes of Pokémon Journeys. God, Goh's voice surprised me. The ten-year old sounds like an adult (then-again, I shouldn't be so surprised, as the voice-actors are adults).
> 
> And yeah. While I'm on the topic, the events of Pokémon Journeys has yet to begin, and any characters introduced in the series will only receive small cameos in this story. They'll appear more in a sequel, but not immediately.
> 
> I encourage all of you to read Chapter 8 of Old Titles (Betrayed), as in a few months, it may be very different after the revision. And you'll probably doubt that this story is based on OT (B), with the fact that this chapter has been heavily changed.

Ash and Anabel were sitting on the couch in their room (while V was in his room answering a call from his old friend: someone called "Professor Cerise") as they waited for the Plateau officials to release the next matchup announcements. Both of them were also curious about who all was in their group of battlers, as that part was never disclosed to anyone except the officials.

"So we had my two old Kalos friends. Who else do you think?" Ash asked.

"Supposedly they said that each pool had certain trainers that balanced around unknown trainers and prevalent trainers, like champions."

"So we may have to face an elite team?" Ash wondered aloud.

"There's always a chance."

*diiing*

Ash pulled out his phone. "Here are the matchups."

Anabel pet Espeon lightly. "What are they?"

"Bonnie and Sawyer got nobody important, Lillie and Hau... oh this will be fun. It's Brycen and Drayden. We got... oh we got the twins from last month. Remember them?"

"Yeah. Daniel and Jake. The ones that finish each others sentences." Anabel inferred, her attention not diverted.

"None of the Brains got anyone important. Oh wow. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I feel bad for Cilan. Him and Chili got Sydney and Phoebe from the Hoenn Elites. They need all the luck they can get." Ash chuckled.

"Well you can knock him off your hit list." Anabel smiled.

"I guess. And... that's it. Looks like none of us got many interesting matches. And ours is in two days at three o'clock. So what do we do tomorrow?"

Anabel thought for a second. "Maybe we could try the new extension of the Battle Buffet that opened here."

Ash grinned. "Oh that will be fun."

Anabel giggled at the reaction. "Yeah. But let's make sure to go in disguise. We don't anyone recognizing and badgering us. I'll also speak to Tucker and Lucy and see if they want to go. Anyways, what time is it?"

"About six. Why?"

"Then we have time before dinner." Anabel flashed her watch and released a little yellow lizard.

"Your shiny Charmander? Why?" Ash asked.

Anabel pulled out a candle. "Use a light Ember on this candle, Charmander."

The fire starter nodded and released an Ember on the candle. Anabel grabbed the now lit up candle and placed it on the coffee table across from Ash. Anabel then grabbed the office chair that they had in their room and sat across from him.

"It's the thing I told you about before our battle today. Trust me, you'll like it." She smiled.

Ash rose an eyebrow, but relented as he sat up. "Alright. What do I do?"

"Form an Aura Sphere real quick."

Ash formed the aura based attack with little trouble with his right hand. "Ok, now what?"

Anabel then pushed her hand forward and closed her eyes. Suddenly, the sphere took on a purple outline.

"Espeon, cut it in half with Iron Tail."

The Psychic cat's tail took on a metallic sheen as Espeon split the sphere. It didn't explode though, like it would in battle. Instead, two Aura Spheres floated there right in front of them, holding the same purple outline as before.

"Now you absorb the first one." Anabel told him.

Ash did so while Anabel absorbed the other one, much to Ash's surprise. When they did, the candle turned Violet. Espeon and Pikachu let out a light gasp at the sight of the candle change while Ash rose an eyebrow at it.

Anabel opened her eyes. "So it looks like it worked."

Ash frowned. "What was that?"

"It's an empathy link. Kinda like you and Azelf. I can feel if you are being attacked and locate you. Same goes for you towards me."

"But how?" Ash asked, clearly confused.

"I infused some psychic energy that I inherited from my mother's side into the Aura Sphere. So due to that, you and I are linked by the transfusion between the energies. A book I read explained how the powers behaved similar enough for them to mix with little or no risk. And it alerts one of us if the other is in danger."

"So it's in case they try something." Ash surmised.

"Yeah. I can't bare to lose you to them. So I'd rather play it safe. Besides, it helps us feel closer."

Ash thought for a second and chuckled. "I guess it does."

The bathroom door opened and V came out holding his Rotom Phone. "What does what?" He asked, frowning.

Ash and Anabel looked at each other and laughed.

"None of your concern Victor" Ash replied teasingly

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"Ugh. Tomorrow is gonna be so boring!" A ten year old complained loudly.

"Max, that is the eighth time! One more time and you sleep on the floor." Trip threatened.

Max gulped as he finally shut up. The group had been sitting and looking through the battle list as they prepped their next move out for the following days. Now that Ash had appeared to them again, their whole plan took a slight detour.

"Well we didn't really get anyone notable. Except for Cilan, who is basically a goner at this point. He and Chili got Hoenn Elites." Trip said as he looked through the list.

"Better him than us. So you and I have our match tomorrow along with Cilan. And they are both early. So what should we do for the rest of the day?" Paul questioned.

"Well they did release the Battle Buffet extension from Alola just last week. We could try that." Max suggested.

"For once, the kid has an idea. Could be good practice and we get lunch." Trip agreed.

"Alright then. I'll ask Dawn to tell the others and see what they think. Though knowing them, they probably want to go." Paul stated.

. . . . . . . . . . .

"The Battle Buffet, huh? Sounds like a marvelous idea." Tucker stated as they sat in the Frontier Booth above stadium 3 watching Cilan and Chili get clobbered by Sydney and Phoebe.

"Guess I'll join. I've never had a buffet in 5 years." V added, not having heard a single word Ah and Anabel said last night.

"So I guess you two are in. Lucy?" Anabel turned to the Pike Queen.

"Hmm. Sure. I'll go." Lucy answered simply.

"Am I hearing Battle Buffet back there?" The five brains turned to see the Arena Tycoon staring back as she sat one row below them. "Mind if I tag along?"

"The more the merrier." Ash smiled.

Noland sighed. "Man. I wanted to go too, but Thorton and I have to battle someone at that time."

"I have a few things to take care of myself. Spenser, I could use your help." Brandon inferred.

"Of course."

"So then that makes five of us. What about the Sinnoh Brains? Besides Thorton that is." Anabel wondered.

"We plan to do it tomorrow since all of us have battles today. And Noland, you can come with us." Thorton called out from the bottom row of the box

"Alright." Noland answered.

"So if that's it, then we should head out here in a minute."

"Not yet. I want to see how bad Cilan loses this match." Ash exclaimed.

They all turned their heads to see Cilan's Simisage get blasted by a full power Fire Blast from Sydney's Houndoom and Chili's Simisear get knocked by a Shadow Ball from Phoebe's Mismagius.

"Simisage and Simisear are unable to battle. Gym Leaders Cilan and Chili have no more Pokémon, so therefore the match goes to the team of Hoenn Elites Sydney and Phoebe." The ref concluded.

"Alright. Now we can go." Ash piped.

. . . . . . . . . .

After Cilan came out of the tunnel and into the lobby, the whole group of traitors were standing there waiting for him. Cilan noticed this and ushered his brother to continue on while handing him Crustle and Simisage's Poke Balls.

"Well Cilan, not really much we can blame you for. They were Hoenn Elites after all." Iris relented.

Cilan shrugged. "I can't be too upset. This just means that my brothers and I have so many more ingredients we can add to our recipe before the dish is complete."

"Again with the food talk? You're just making me hungry." Max whined.

"Well then go. I already said I can't go with you all cause I want to support Cress. He's the only one left in and he's teamed with Lenora." Cilan exclaimed.

"Lenora? I thought she retired." Iris stated.

"She will next month. She waited until the tournament so she could go out with a bang." Cilan inferred.

"Well tell us how it went when we get back. We'll probably bring you and your brothers something." Dawn stated.

"Sounds great. Now go enjoy your food." Cilan waved them to leave as he walked to the Pokémon Center.

. . . . . . . . . .

As the group of six Frontier Brains continued on to the Battle Buffet, they all made sure their disguises seemed legitimate. They weren't sure if it would be safe to go out in public as in their Frontier attire, so they grabbed a change of clothes before they left to the restaurant.

Ash was dawning a blue hoodie with a normal red cap that had no logo and a pair of light blue jeans and black sneakers. Anabel was wearing leggings with a purple hoodie and a beanie. She was wearing purple tennis shoes and had sunglasses on her face. Greta had a white T-shirt with blue jeans and had a red jacket on over her shirt. Lucy was wearing skinny jeans with a black pull over. V was wearing a Registeel hoodie that was, er, steel-colored (duh), while the hood sat on his head and jet black jeans. And Tucker, clearly the most inconspicuous one, was wearing a flashy white suit with a top hat and walking cane.

Anabel made a mental note to tell him to wear casual clothes on these outings next time.

"You sure you want to wear your suit to a buffet, Tucker? What if you drop something on it?" Ash questioned.

"Oh it will be fine. This suit is easy to wash." Tucker assured.

"If you say so." Ash mumbled.

"So the rumor from Scott is that the Champions are out to get you." Lucy said to Ash.

"If you had to put it bluntly, then yeah. Brock came looking for my help, so I called in a favor from Lance and then he challenged me to a battle at some point." Ash inferred.

"And then he left Ash and I with this: 'Just so you know, I'm not the only Champion eager to fight you or the Salon Maiden.'" Anabel paraphrased.

"Strange. The Champions have never been interested in any of us before. Except for that one time Brandon had a show battle for the Silver Wing Tournament with Will a few years back." Tucker thought aloud.

"Yeah. What could they want with you two?" Greta asked.

"Well let's just say at some point, I've met almost all the regional Champions in their respective regions before I joined you all."

"And have you faced any of them?" Lucy asked.

Ash thought for a second before responding. "Well I fought Alder, but I would hardly call that a match, cause he wasn't paying attention and fell asleep mid battle," The others sweatdropped at that. "and I faced Diantha a few times and I almost beat her Gardevoir with my Greninja one of those times, but that was before we could control our bond perfectly."

"Wow. And if I remember, Gardevoir is her partner. To almost defeat it is rare for normal trainers, but then again, you aren't exactly a normal trainer." Noland said as everyone chuckled at that statement.

"Now that is an understatement. The best word would be 'Abnormal'." Anabel commented as everyone laughed.

"Or 'Ashnormal.'" V added through fits of laughter, causing everyone to laugh even harder.

They continued laughing like that until suddenly, the trees gusted around heavily, which caught Ash's and Lucy's attention. "Wait, isn't the weather today supposed to have virtually no wind?"

"That's what I thought too." Lucy added.

The trees gusted once again, but this time, more ferociously than the last. It was blowing so badly that it seemed as though the trees would fall over and collapse everything within range. This time, everyone was concerned. Not only was there not supposed to be wind, but it was common knowledge that Indigo Plateau was founded here for it's few weather mishaps. Everyone was on their guard all of the sudden.

"Something's causing it, and I seriously doubt it's a storm or Pokémon battle." Tucker inferred suspiciously.

Greta frowned. "We should check that out. If it's something dangerous, Scott would want us to stop it."

"Yeah. Everyone grab a Poke Ball and be ready." Ash encouraged as he pulled out one of his own.

The others followed suit (except for V, who had the idea to pull out his pistol, which was, of course, licensed, from the hoodie pocket) as they began to move stealthily into the tree line and through the forest before them. They made sure not to make any noise for fear that whatever or whoever was there would attack with no reason, or attempt to run before they could all figure out the puzzle that was missing its pieces.

As they approached a clearing, they kept hearing the same noise and seeing the same large wind blowing into the trees as earlier. They finally decided that after a minute of waiting for something to appear, they stepped out cautiously and moved towards the center of the clearing to try and scan around for probable causes. Most people wouldn't even grow curious about such occurrences, but the Frontier Brains knew nothing uncommon would happen without a proper reasoning. And learning to trust their intuition and instinct comes with the job of being in the Frontier.

Ash looked around before noticing a streak of red just above the canopy flash through the corner of his eye. And just as he saw that, he saw a blue one with his proferal vision once again. Ash was growing tired of the speed and flashed on his Aura Sense in time to feel two strong Psychic Auras in the area that Ash would dare to say could be Legendary level. Then he sensed a bit of familiarity within the pair, which made Ash smile.

"Hey Anabel. I think I found our little troublemakers." Ash said, making everyone stare in shock (and V put his pistol away).

Ash chuckled before staring up at the sky slightly. "Alright, I know it's you. You might want to come out before I make you. And don't forget what happened last time."

'Aww, that's not fun!'

The sound of a light feminine tone made the others widen their eyes in surprise. But that wasn't the only surprise to occur to them.

'Oh calm down. At least he didn't stick Azelf on us. And Arceus knows that could've been painful.'

A more masculine tone spoke out, making the others jump slightly, but also making Anabel widen her eyes with familiarity. 'Is it... but why here?'

Then she felt a light wind at her shoulder. 'Of course it's me Anabel. Who else would it be?'

All eyes fell on Anabel after the sound of the masculine tone spoke again. Tucker, Greta, Lucy, and V frowned in complete confusion while Ash was just chuckling. Then two small ripples appeared several feet in the air in front of all of them. After the ripple effect that brought the figures into light, you could see a red Pokémon with a blue triangle on it's chest. It had the wings of a biplane, however slanted, and it was staring at the group with yellowish eyes. The other one was a carbon copy of the red Pokémon, except it was blue with a red triangle with a larger body and red eyes.

Ash laughed at the comment while Anabel walked up to the pair, her eyes currently mystified at the two Pokémon in front of them (and V face-palmed, having been living with Ash for his time in "hiding" and had seen the Latias before). "Latios. Why are you here right now? And with a Latias?"

"I think I can answer the Latias." Ash smiled and turned to the dragoness. "How are Lorenzo and Bianca doing these days?"

'They're doing great. Bianca has been selling her art more recently and Lorenzo is still the same as ever. They are expecting another visit from you soon.' Latias stated before ramming into Ash with a hug. 'It's so good to see you again.'

Ash patted her back lightly as he returned her embrace. "Likewise. And you can tell them I plan to take a few vacation days after I do a promotional thing in Alola. Now tell me, why did you come visit me this time?"

'Well, it's just a little something I wanted to do.' Latias stated cryptically with a light grin.

"*Ahem*. Could someone explain what is going on?" Ash turned around to see that the other three Frontier Brains were losing their heads at the moment trying to piece the puzzle.

Anabel quickly apologized. "Sorry guys. You see I know Latios from rescuing it on my vacation trip to Hoenn last year. It was injured just outside Slateport City and I helped fix him up. We've been friends ever since." She turned to Ash. "Now explain the Latias. Cause I've never met one before."

"Right. Well anyways, Latias is from Alto Mare in Johto. Back then, I went to compete in the Tour de Alto Mare race, where she kinda messed with us a little bit. Then one crazy adventure later, we became really great friends. She visited me in the middle of some journeys and even after I became Castle Guardian, but none of my old friends ever knew about her visits."

"And you two need to tell us how you know each other." Anabel looked at Latios questioningly.

'Long story short, she's my cousin. I met up with her in Alto Mare on my way to visit you. I took a rest there with her permission, where we learned that we apparently were going to the same place. So we left and the rest is history.' Latios summarized.

Ash turned to Latias. "Why visit now? Usually I get a message from Bianca if you're coming over."

'Well I wanted to make this one a surprise. For a special reason.' Latias said with a grin.

Ash folded his arms. "Special reason, huh? Well I'm all ears."

'Well...' Latias took in a breath. 'I want you to capture me.'

The Brains all gasped at the words they heard through their minds. Ash gave a confused glance for a second before snapping out of it. "I'm sorry. It sounded like you said I could capture you."

Latias nodded. 'That's exactly what I said.'

Then Ash nodded. "Oh ok."

Then about three seconds later a "brick" flew into Ash's head.

"WAIT, WHAT?!" A flock of Pidgeys flew into the sky from the trees.

Latias giggled. 'I knew your reaction would be funny.'

"Latias, you're actually serious? But why?" Ash questioned. "You even told me you would never like to be caught back when you visited after I received my frontier title."

Latias gave a mareepish look. 'Well that was only half true. I did say that, but I excluded one part.'

"Excluded a part?" Ash frowned at this.

'Yeah. The full truth is I would never like to be caught by anyone... except the one trainer I trust with my life. And... that would be you.' Latias stated solemnly.

Ash stood dumbfounded for a second. The former ten year old in him was jumping in joy at what he just heard, but the Frontier Brain in him was flashing warning lights. Ash knew the risks of catching a legend, just like when he caught Azelf back then, and V had warned him before of "disturbing the balance of nature." He was always wary of letting anyone see him. If this was real, then Latias would be no different.

"But Latias-"

'Don't even say it. I know the risks. And I don't care if you use me in battle at all.' Latias cut him off.

"Stop reading my mind!" Ash scowled. "It's rude."

'I read your thoughts. There is a difference. I still know the risks and I know I'll be in danger, but I think it's worth it.'

"But Latias, I know I'm not the greatest with Dragon types. I know others would be better for you." Ash said.

'And I'm telling you that you are the best for me!' Latias argued. Everyone widened their eyes and froze from her tone. 'I know others can train me well, but I don't trust anyone else to be my trainer. Your heart is so pure that I know you wouldn't make me do something wrong. Almost nobody else in the world has a heart like you. I want you to catch me and that is final!'

Ash had no more words. He stood frozen for a brief moment with all eyes on him until he reached into his bag and pulled out a Poke Ball and looked at it. He stared into his own reflection on the shiny red surface of the capturing device. "Are you absolutely sure?"

'I am. I want to become stronger than I am now, and if anyone can do it, I know it would be you.' Latias assured.

Ash gave a smile. "Alright. Are Lorenzo and Bianca ok with it?"

'Yes. It took a week of begging, but they agreed eventually.'

"Then I have no more to say other than welcome to the team. We will do great things together Latias." Ash held the Poke Ball out.

The red dragoness happily tapped the Poke Ball with her face, being pulled into it and disappearing. There was a few rolls before a flash happened that signified the complete capture of the Psychic Dragon Pokémon. He smiled at the Poke Ball before releasing Latias from it and pocketing the Poke Ball.

"I know you probably got dizzy, but that's just how it goes at first when you are in a Poke Ball. It will pass with time." Ash explained.

'Ok. I believe you.' Latias said as she attempted to shake off some brief nausea from the Poke Ball.

"Anyone else feel like we're being left out?" Greta looked at her two colleagues right beside her, who both nodded as they looked at Ash, Anabel, and V (who had caught legendaries in the Crown Tundra).

"Sorry. I think we're done. But that leaves Anabel and Latios to catch up." Ash stated as Latias transformed into a girl with brunette hair, a green shirt, and a white skirt while standing at his side.

Anabel got over her shock of witnessing what happened to Ash and turned to Latios. "So I assume you came for just a routine visit? It's about that time this year."

'Actually, I came for the same reason Latias did. I wish to join you.' He inferred.

Anabel froze up. "You... wish to..."

Then the others saw her fall backwards as she seemingly fainted onto the soft green grass. Ash facepalmed at this while chuckling lightly. He turned to Latias for a moment.

"I think the three of us broke her." Ash stated bluntly.

'You're lucky I know Water Pulse.' Latias said as she walked over to Anabel and changed into her true form briefly. She formed a sphere of water and let it fall lightly onto Anabel's face, which woke her instantly as she bolted upright. She then relaxed after she realized what happened while Latias reverted back and stood next to Ash again.

"Sorry. Guess that overwhelmed me." Anabel said mareepishly as she calmed down.

Anabel turned to Latios. "Alright. I have no problems with it, but just like what Ash was about to say. It's risky. Are you up for it?"

'Of course I am.' Latios stated with determination. Anabel tapped him with the Poke Ball, which caught him instantly. Like Ash, she let him out instantly.

'Ugh. How do Pokémon deal with those things?' He muttered as he shook off the dizziness.

"Well I guess our little sidetracked adventure is over. Now who's ready for the buffet?" Ash questioned with his fist in the air.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The Battle Buffet of Alola. Inspired by Galah's Battle Cafe and now with an extension in Kanto, this place had been picking up in popularity, being able to couple the essentials of food, and let trainers come to battle to their hearts content. With the catch that trainers have to battle for their food, this place has become a one of a kind competitive place for people to come and attempt to snag high-class meals through battles.

The tables were all clustered to the northeastern side of the restaurant while the buffet was reserved for the other side, which had an incredibly large battlefield style ground to hold up certain attacks, where people were slightly clustered up already. The brown walls and yellow lights with a chandelier in the air left the atmosphere of a classy five-star restaurant.

And that was where everyone wanted to eat at this tournament, albeit only once.

And here we find our Frontier group entering the buffet for their own attempt at obtaining a decent take of food. They all made sure that they brought the Pokémon that wanted to fight in this area. They know the battles will be fierce, so they made sure that the Pokémon were ready for the fierce challenge. But knowing Ash's luck, something always had to go wrong.

And that's just what he expects.

As they walk into the door, Ash was getting a funny feeling as he turned to Anabel. "I have a bad feeling right now. Something feels extremely off."

Anabel frowned. "Like what?"

"I don't know, but I've learned to trust my gut after so long. And right now it's telling me something is here. Or about to be."

Greta leaned in for a second. "Or maybe you're just hungry."

Everyone else laughed to Ash's expense while he sighed inwardly. 'Looks like I'm the only one afraid of them showing up.'

'If it makes you feel less anxious, they are actually here. Or, at least a few of them.'

Ash blinked before realizing that it was Latias in his head again. And for once, he was actually happy she read his mind. 'Is that so? Well then this is probably going to get ugly.'

'You sound more at ease all of the sudden. Why?' Latias asked.

'Cause if they do cause a scene, they get tossed out instead of us. And it humiliates them in the public eye, so it's a win win for us.'

'Hmm. You know, I would like to fight one of them. Namely, Misty.' Latias inferred.

'Not now. I'd rather make it more interesting in later rounds. Since there are only two tag rounds left, then I'll probably wait until we face one of them in singles. Besides, most of my Pokémon are itching to go, and I feel like I need to understand your style before I rush into battle.' Ash stated.

'Looks like that Frontier training paid off. While I hate to admit it, you're right. For once.' Latias teased.

Ash rolled his eyes. 'Whatever. Just try to keep your invisibility on in here. Cause Misty might recognize you if you change into Bianca again.'

'Alright.'

Ash turned his attention back to the others as they began to prepare for battle. Ash still felt slightly uneasy, but decided to keep that to himself since there was a chance that he won't even face any of them in battle regardless. Ash doesn't want to cause more trouble than necessary, since this was supposed to be a friendly outing.

"Ash, you ready?" Ash snapped out of his stupor as he turned to his tag partner, who was giving him a small smile. The others seemed ready to go at it as well.

Ash nodded as he pulled out a Poke Ball. "Yes I am. Let's do this."

The attendant at the front nodded at the Frontier group. "If anyone is eyeing your plate, you have to battle. Maximum amount of food plates per person is six."

"Too bad for Ash." Greta cracked as the others let out stifled laughs.

Ash smirked. "You sure I should be concerned? Remind me what happened to the buffet at the Frontier Christmas Party last month."

Greta flushed. "Hey! I didn't eat anything all day. I was hungry."

The other four laughed at the light exchange before turning back to the attendant again. "Your table of five is already placed back in the corner over there," She gestured a large round table at the easternmost side of the restaurant. "and the food is constantly being replaced as people take it. So do your best and good luck."

And in that instant, the Frontier Brains took off in a hurry.

. . . . . . . . . . .

"Hmm. Is that Tamato Berry soup? Don't mind if I do." The Dome Ace said as he grabbed the bowl and began to walk away. However, a kid in mainly red with some green hair got in front with a Pokémon.

"Sorry, but if you want that, you have to go through me."

Tucker smirked as he pulled out a Poké Ball. "So it seems. Salamence, let's battle."

. . . . . . . . . . .

"Yoish! A perfect Caezar Salad for the body and soul." Greta mused a bit as she snagged the salad and attempted to walk to the table.

"Hey! I saw that first!"

She turned to her left to see an office worker glaring at her. "You're going to have to battle me if you want this." The Arena Tycoon dared.

The office worker glared. "You asked for it."

Greta smirked before pulling out a Poké Ball. "Medicham, battle time!"

. . . . . . . . . . .

"What to find, what to find... oh here we are." Anabel said aloud as she eyed a dessert plate off to the side. She attempted to run for it, but an elderly woman grabbed it first.

Anabel sighed slightly which made the lady turn and smirk. "I apologize, but I can assure you that you won't win the battle. That is, unless you want to try."

Anabel growled as she pulled out a Poké Ball. "You're mocking me? You asked for it grandma. Gardevoir, come on out my friend!"

. . . . . . . . . . .

"Wow, that sushi looks good. I think I'll try it." Lucy decided as she grabbed the plate of Whirlpool Sushi.

"Oh no you don't." Lucy saw a fisherman try to place his hand on the plate before Lucy moved it off the table.

"Instead of trying to steal it, why not battle for it?" Lucy offered, much to the Fisherman's annoyance.

"Fine, but let's make this quick." He pulled out a Poké Ball.

"If you ask. Seviper, time to strike." Lucy tossed a Poké Ball.

. . . . . . . . . . .

"Potatoes with Beef! Haven't had that in five years either!" V said, smiling at the meal sitting in front of him."

"Oh no Wannabe Registeel." A man taunted, walking faster than him. "You're not getting that plate unless you battle me."

"Your regret." V said, holding Registeel's Poké Ball

. . . . . . . . . . .

"Alright! Chicken Alfredo with some spices added. Perfect!" Ash stated aloud as he grabbed the plate.

"Hey!" Ash turned to see a hiker in his thirties scowling at him. "I've been waiting for some of that for so long."

"You snooze, you lose pal. Unless you want to battle for it." Ash stated.

The man pulled out a Poké Ball. "You're on!"

Ash pulled out a Poké Ball as well. "Your funeral. Donphan, I choose you!"

. . . . . . . . . .

As the ceaseless battling was occurring, a fair distance away from the buffet area, an infamous group was tending to their own lunch as well. It was visibly apparent that each of them were eating different plates of gourmet food, enjoying it fully to the very last bite. One dark purple haired girl finally set it down as she sighed in content.

"I've never had such good spaghetti before." She inferred happily.

A kid put down his plate as well. "The lasagna here is great too."

The blunette contest performer stood up. "I'm going to go grab a dessert plate. I saw some good Vanillite Parfaits over there."

"I'll come too. I want another slice of the Miltank Cheese Pizza." Max stated as he got out of his seat.

The two rushed up to the buffet tables to search for their respective dishes. Dawn managed to find hers quickly and snag it with nobody opposing her. Max however, was not so lucky. There was a plate of pizza, but it was already being fought over. And, much to his annoyance, he suddenly recognized who had won the battle.

"Looks like all that time with your family paid off in terms of strength. Thanks for the battle Lapras. Return." The Castle Guardian recalled his Lapras as the opponent recalled his Dusclops.

"You've got some skills. Looks like I'll have to wait for the next batch after all. Later." The youngster ran off.

Ash claimed his prize and began to walk off, but not before Max found the audacity to call him out. "Hey half pint!"

Ash turned his head to see the son of the Petalburg Gym Leader and rolled his eyes. 'So much for not running into them. And half pint?'

"That pizza there should go to real battlers. So how about you just hand it over." Max demanded.

"Unless you missed it, I just finished a battle and won it. Fair is fair, so go get your own." Ash brushed him off.

Max fumed. "So you're just that scared to lose?"

Ash scoffed. "Considering I kicked your butt in three moves the day before prelims, I don't have anything to worry about. Now leave me alone."

Max frowned in confusion before he remembered his loss out near the woods a few days ago. His eyes widened before glaring in anger. "That was you who was trying to lecture me!"

"You're damn right it was. Now leave me alone so I can eat my pizza." Ash walked away.

Max ran back to Dawn, who had gotten away unscathed and grabbed her arm. She turned around to face him. "What?"

"Ash just walked away with the only slice left! And he refused to give it to me."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Really Max? Even I saw that the place you went to had a battle going on. He had a Lapras, right?"

Max nodded which made Dawn glare down on him. "Then he earned it. Let it go."

"But he doesn't deserve it!" Max tried to justify.

"If he won, then yes he does. Now just go find another one, cause I'm not getting involved in your personal problems regardless of how little I care for Ash." Dawn walked back to the table, leaving an angry kid all by himself.

. . . . . . . . . .

Ash sighed heavily as he sat back in his seat across from the other Frontier Brains. 'Well this is just great.'

'So what will you do?' Ash heard Latias in his head once more.

'I'll try to stick solo when I go out for more plates. I'm not ruining their outing by bringing them up.' Ash took a bite out of his pizza. 'I can handle this alone for once.'

'Wouldn't it be better for Anabel to know at least? She has you in an empathy link, right?'

'I know, but if I understand the concept, which I probably don't anyways, then it most likely alerts if my immediate person is in danger. Not if I'm in a battle with someone. So unless the others are just that stupid, then I can keep it secret without them worrying.'

Latias sighed. 'You worry for the others far too much. But if that is your intention, then the most I can do is put up a psychic layer around you to block out the link just to be safe. But if it drops mid fight, then she will likely be notified if something is wrong.'

'I would appreciate that. Thanks Latias. You're a huge help.'

Latias giggled in his head. 'Why do you think I wanted to join you?'

Ash chuckled in his head before finishing off his pizza and preparing to go for a Chansy Omelette for his fourth plate. But he was stopped for a second, as someone grabbed his arm. He traced it back to a Lilac haired girl with a concerned face.

"You ok? You look worried about something." She asked.

Ash gave a smile. "Nah, I'm fine. I'm just worried they ran out of Chansy Omlettes."

"I saw some on my way back. If you're quick, you might grab one." Tucker informed him.

"Thanks Tucker. I'll be back." Ash walked away from the table.

Anabel stared at Ash until she was sure he was out of earshot. "He's not telling us something."

Lucy looked up from her Hoenn Pasta. "What are you implying?"

"I can read Ash like a book. Something is bothering him." Anabel said as she took another bite out of her salad.

"Knowing him, it's whether he can get enough food to fill him up or not." Greta joked as the others started laughing, making Anabel forget her previous worries.

. . . . . . . . . .

"So he's going for an omelette. Payback time." Max smirked as he watched Ash walk up to a table uncontested.

As Ash picked it up, he heard a familiar loud and obnoxious voice call out behind him. "Hey! I was going to grab that!"

Ash groaned again. "Max, could you just screw off? I'm not going to deal with you hunting me down for revenge over your stupid pizza."

"Well let's just say I didn't come alone this time."

Ash frowned as he turned and saw May standing there alongside of Max with a hand on her hip. "I don't really care that you beat him or anything, but I kinda wanted the chance to pummel you so you would learn your place."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Learn my place? Right now, my place should be at my table digging into this omelette."

"And mine should be back at my table eating my slice of chocolate cake. But life isn't that fair. So I guess we will just take the omelette as payment."

"Stop trying to use complicated sentences. It really doesn't fit you." Ash commented, making May glare.

"Alright Ketchum. You asked for it. Glaceon, come on out!" May tossed out the Fresh Snow Pokémon, who came out with a light cry of its name.

"Gallade, let's go." Max called out the Fighting and Psychic type that he had saved from ailment years prior.

"Two on one?" Ash scowled as he grabbed a Poké Ball. "That's cheap, but whatever. Jolteon, I choose you!"

Ash tossed out the Electric type Eevee evolution, who came out with a glare as he stared down his opponents. He tensed up, ready for any action that may take place before him.

"That thing is your choice? Let us show you who the better Eevee evolution is. Use Ice Beam."

"Gallade, use Psycho Cut."

"Jolteon, dodge it quickly then fire off a Pin Missle at Gallade followed by a Thunderbolt at Glaceon!"

Jolteon avoided the impact from the attacks while firing off his attacks one at a time. Glaceon managed to avoid the Electric attack, but the same couldn't be said for Gallade, who caught the full impact of the Pin Missile.

"Gallade, run up and use Drain Punch."

"Clash with Iron Tail!" Ash called quickly.

Gallade formed a green fist as he ran full pace to Jolteon. The Electric Pokemon ran up to meet it, a metallic sheen occurring on his "tail." The attacks clashed hard, neither one of them wanting to give ground.

"Shadow Ball."

Suddenly, Jolteon was blindsided by Glaceon's Shadow Ball, making him lose the clash as Gallade struck with another Drain Punch, sending Jolteon to Ash's feet.

"You ok bud?" Ash knelt down by his Jolteon.

The Jolteon pulled himself, shaking off the last attack, eyeing the two Pokemon once more. Ceaseless growling could be heard from the Electric type. Ash glared at his opponents with disgust.

"A two on one proves nothing. So why do it?"

May smirked. "It really shows. You're useless without Anabel to back you up. Looks like Serena and Clemont's loss was all Anabel after all."

"If you both actually respected one-on-one battles, then I'd beat you both individually. Can't you at least do that?"

They scowled. "We don't respect weaklings. Glaceon, Ice Beam."

"Gallade, Leaf Blade."

Ash grit his teeth as he eyed Jolteon, who gave a nod. "Guess it's time to switch tactics. Jolteon, Protect!"

A blue barrier formed in front of Jolteon, who blocked both attacks easily.

"Thunderbolt on Gallade."

The moment the Protect barrier disappeared, a bolt of electricity connected with Gallade, making him flinch in pain.

"Shadow Ball."

"Return it with Iron Tail."

Glaceon sent another Shadow Ball, but it was quickly denied as Jolteon sent it back with Iron Tail. It hit Glaceon square in the side. (And Ash could hear V shouting "De-nied!" as he always did when an attack was deflected from the veteran trainer's Pokémon)

"Shadow Sneak."

Ash could only watch as Jolteon was struck into the air by Gallade through the shadows. And to make matters worse, Glaceon recovered.

"Use Blizzard."

Jolteon cried in pain as he was struck with the inaccurate, but powerful freezing attack, making Ash grit his teeth.

"Rush him with Feint!"

Ash heard the attack. "Dodge with Quick Attack."

As Jolteon hit the ground, he disappeared into a white flash, just barely avoiding the Feint.

"Discharge!"

Jolteon disappeared in between the Pokemon, releasing a wave of electricity that connected to both Pokemon easily. But Jolteon was panting heavily, which made Ash concerned.

'We can't take another attack. I need to end this quick.' He thought. "Shadow Ball on Gallade."

"Glaceon, use your Shadow ball."

Glaceon and Jolteon both fired their ghost attacks, making a small explosion. It was silent for a second... until Ash heard another command.

"Quick Attack Glaceon."

"Protect." Ash barked.

"Use Feint!" Max yelled.

Jolteon put up the barrier, but it was instantly shattered by the Feint as Glaceon connected with Quick Attack, sending Jolteon back to Ash again.

Jolteon tried to stand, but Ash called out. "It's ok Jolteon. I regret not training your endurance more. You don't have to keep this up. I'm proud of you." Jolteon slacked over after hearing the words, smiling that his trainer praised him even though he still lost. Ash pulled out a Poké Ball, prepared to return him.

"Shadow Sneak."

Gallade came from the shadows and hit Jolteon making him cry out in pure pain, sending him in the middle of the two Pokemon and blocking Ash off. Now Jolteon wasn't moving at all and Ash knew his breathing was shallow.

"Hey! I said we're done!"

They didn't listen to his protests. "We never said you were done. Ice Beam full power."

"Psycho Cut max power."

Ash widened his eyes. "Are you two trying to kill him?!"

Max and May smirked. "You don't deserve that Jolteon. So we are doing it a favor and putting it out of its misery. Say goodbye."

Ash immediately saw red. "THAT'S IT! I'm done playing nice! Garchomp, I choose you!"

Ash released the Land Shark, who came out with a terrifying roar, making Max and May gulp. Half of the restaurant was driven into silence as the Dragon type finished his roar, drawing almost everyone's attention. Garchomp looked at Jolteon, then saw the opposing Pokemon starting to fire their attacks. Garchomp rushed ahead and formed a Protect, stopping the attacks with ease.

Ash glared. "You're done. Garchomp, Dragon Rush!"

The pseudo legend jumped into the air and surrounded himself in a glow of blue draconic energy as he flew towards Gallade quickly.

The siblings panicked. "Glaceon, use Ice Beam."

"Evasive maneuvers. Don't stop attacking." Ash ordered coldly.

Garchomp dodged around the Ice Beam easily and struck Gallade full force, who hit the ground hard, stirring up dust around the battlefield-like area. Ash wasn't skipping a beat though.

"Stone Edge on Glaceon!"

Through the smoke, Garchomp launched the stone shards at Glaceon at a pace faster than May could comprehend. Glaceon was hit and sent flying up in the air.

"Time to end this. Outrage!"

Garchomp's eyes turned red as he let out a roar before disappearing in a blur, appearing behind Gallade, who was slowly attempting to get up due to previous injuries, striking constantly before sending him to the floor. In another blur, Garchomp was striking Glaceon, making it cry out from the ferocious blows to its small body before Garchomp finished with a hard strike down, sending Glaceon into Gallade. They could hear cries of pain, but both trainer and Pokemon were too angry to care.

Garchomp flew back in front of Ash, glaring at the downed Pokemon in case they were stupid enough to get back up. Ash, finally given the opportunity, returned Jolteon, making sure to rush to the Pokemon Center after he speaks with the other Brains.

"Ash!"

Speak of the devil, the Salon Maiden spoke out as the five other Brains ran up to him. Ash sighed in disappointment.

'I didn't want them to know.'

Anabel ran up first. "What happened? Why did you pull out Garchomp?"

Ash turned his back to her and climbed atop Garchomp's back. "Sorry, but I need to get to the Pokemon Center. You guys just keep eating. Garchomp, let's get to Callum."

"Ash, hold on!" Anabel protested, though it did no good.

Ash flew fast out the door, leaving the Brains to themselves, wondering what happened until they saw Max and May holding their Pokemon. Anabel, her face plastered in anger, stormed over like she was about to slap them.

"What did you do?" She demanded.

May glared. "What do you mean 'What did we do?'"

Greta ran up next to her. "Don't play dumb. Ash never uses Garchomp unless the battle is tough, or, if the circumstances are right, someone royally pisses him off."

Lucy folded her arms as she walked up, followed by Tucker. "So now let's try this again."

The Dome Ace formed a harsh glare. "What. Did. You. Do!?"

"Ash just got salty that Jolteon couldn't beat us and pulled out Garchomp and brutalized our Pokemon." Max stated, boasting slightly.

"You and I know that isn't true. It takes a lot to send Ash over the edge. Unless it comes to..." Anabel stopped halfway through until her eyes widened in fear.

She looked around and saw the small crowd observing the argument. "Did anyone see the full battle?"

An elderly man rose his hand. "I did."

"What provoked the Garchomp?" Anabel questioned.

"After Jolteon hit the floor, the guy deemed Jolteon unable to continue, though Jolteon tried to stand back up. Then the kid had Gallade use Shadow Sneak to hit Jolteon before the guy could recall him. Then they had their Pokemon attempt to use max power moves to... end him. The guy lost it and out came the Garchomp." The old man explained.

Anabel growled as she turned back around. "So it was a two on one and you tried to end his Jolteon? Did you know he just caught it as an Eevee two months ago and it was abandoned by another trainer! How heartless are you!?"

"Death would've been better than being with that weakling." May muttered.

"You're calling him weak? Even after his Garchomp obliterated you!?" Lucy yelled.

"We were just tired from fighting the Jolteon. That Garchomp would've been toast otherwise." Max boasted.

"You won't even be able to beat the Frontier with that attitude and those tactics!" V roared.

"You lot are weaklings." Max roared back "Heck, I could beat you all of you at once even while blindfolded!"

Greta tried to lunge, but Tucker held her back. "I'd like to see you say that after I clean your clock, shorty!"

"Am I hearing this all correctly?"

A man in a suit walked up to the group, anger on his face. "They teamed in a two vs one, and they tried to end a Pokemon?"

"Just what is it to you, huh?" Max asked mockingly.

May glared at her brother. "Max, shut up! You were just like this with that Ranger!"

The old man folded his arms. "I own the Battle Buffet chain. I was simply overseeing the results of our new edition until this happened. This type of behavior is highly frowned upon and goes against our etiquette in the Battle Buffet. You two are banned from here! Jackson!"

A tall man with evident muscle and an intimidating sailor look walked up. "Yes sir?"

"Get them out of here." He demanded.

"On it." He picked them up and dragged them screaming and kicking all the way to the exit.

The owner turned to the Frontier group. "And where is this trainer?"

"Pokémon Center. He should be there by now." Anabel informed.

"Good." He pulled out two cards and handed it to Anabel. "The first is my number. Give him the second and tell him his next meal is free. And I would like to meet him if he can make time."

"Well he is a Frontier Brain, so he may be busy." Tucker inferred.

"Well that explains the strength of that Garchomp I heard about. Well tell him for me anyways. I would like to voice my appreciation."

They nodded as the Battle Buffet owner walked away, grumbling about informal imbeciles.


	9. Depression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Here's some notes I'd like to put about V which I don't know when to place it in the story yet:
> 
> 1\. V (Victor) is Goh's cousin (Mothers' side for both). He often exasperates frustration at Goh's stupidity (such as wanting Mew as his Starter Pokémon), and often calls him "Idiot Boy"
> 
> 2\. Remember in one of the earlier chapters, it's said that V was part of law enforcement? He worked for the International Police. His email domain is still in the International Police (victory_star@IP.gov)
> 
> 3\. Victor adopts a much harsher personality (very easy, thanks to Mesprit) as his time as V
> 
> 4\. V met Professor Cerise during the former's lecture about Legendary Pokémon to the latter's students. As a thank-you, he gave Professor Cerise a Yamper
> 
> 5\. V (or Victor, I should say) originally wasn't into Pokémon: he was interested in becoming an architect. He got into Pokémon just to escape a bunch of bullies. His life turned a 180 after beginning his journey

Beep...Beep...Beep...

The sound continued to play in a simple rhythm that sounded to Ash's ears. It was the only thing that broke the protruding silence in the room next to the ER. He sat on the bench in silence as Pikachu and Espeon sat with him, both of them seeing him come back on Garchomp, making them curious. Garchomp and Gloria stood near the glass, both gazing at the young Electric type being treated by Callum in the other room.

Ash was never this quiet, which didn't sit well with the others. He was told by Nurse Joy that Jolteon was lucky that the Shadow Sneak didn't hit anywhere else, otherwise he would've been in a cast. Ash was relieved to hear that, but Nurse Joy also said he would not be able to move excessively for a few days, even with Callum on the job.

Ash was thinking about what else he should have done differently. The first thing that popped was to just give up the omelette, but Max's ego is so big that he probably wouldn't get away with that. The second was to alert the others, but this is his problem. He doesn't really want them involved with his former friends, but the tag battle, Ash had no choice. So now all he feels is slight depression.

"Why did I go through with it?" He asked himself.

"Pika pi..." The little mouse Pokemon patted his trainer for reassurance. He hated seeing him like this. A state of mind that little to nothing can fix except for time.

"Espe..." Even Espeon tried her own attempt at easing him by rubbing against his leg, an action that she normally only does for Anabel.

"Garr? Garrr..." Garchomp walked up to Ash and placed his claw on his trainer's shoulder, making Ash snap out of his trance.

He looked around and saw all three of them giving reassurance. He flashed a smile and pet each of them for a moment. "I appreciate that. Thanks. I'm just sad that it came to this."

All three of them nodded in understanding.

"What...what exactly happened Ash?" Gloria asked, still not breaking her gaze at Jolteon in the other side of the glass.

Ash explained everything that went up to the current situation, but as shocking as the events were, Gloria only gave a few small gasps or understanding nods.

Suddenly, Garchomp gave a determined glance, which shocked Ash for a brief moment until he knew what Garchomp wanted. He gave a smirk to the Land Shark. "Sure Garchomp. You get dibs on Max's full team if we face him."

"Garr!" Garchomp let out a cry of content, earning a chuckle from Ash, and a look of shock from Gloria.

He faced the glass screen once more. "Just a couple days Jolteon. I'll be back when you wake up."

He stood up and walked out of the side room, the others following suit, leaving Jolteon alone with Gloria and Callum back in the ER, exiting into the main lobby, where Ash saw the others sitting and waiting for him. They all had fearful looks on their faces, which Ash already knew the purpose behind them.

He sighed. "Hey. How was the rest of your meals?"

Greta spoke first. "We didn't stay. How is he?"

"Stable. He's allowed to go in two days, but no excessive movement until two days after that."

"That's great to hear." Tucker stated.

Anabel then walked closer, sadness in her eyes. "Why?"

Ash frowned. "Why what?"

"You knew they were there, yet you said nothing. Anabel realized that after you left." Lucy stated.

Ash didn't meet their eyes. "I didn't want to worry any of you. You all wanted to eat there, so I put my concerns aside. But my luck isn't ways on my side, and Max saw me. So he got May and they tag teamed me. I used Jolteon cause the others were tired besides Garchomp, and I didn't want to use him first. I guess I should've."

Anabel put a hand over her chest. "Ash, we are your-"

"I know. But this is my problem to shoulder. So I kept it a secret." He cut her off. "My little issue shouldn't be holding any of you back."

"That's valiant young man." Ash turned to see Brandon and Spenser walking in the Pokemon Center. "But your 'little issue' is more problematic than most. Judging from what I heard, something happened at the Battle Buffet?"

Ash did an explanation of the events that led to this, making Brandon stone his gaze even more. "They had better have been punished."

"Owner kicked them out for life, and he wants to personally thank Ash for attempting to battle while still following the rules even if he couldn't the whole time. He also paid our buffet cost and Ash gets a free buffet next time he goes." Tucker exclaimed.

"That was nice of him." Spenser stated.

"Maybe so, but I feel like he should have handed them to the police." Brandon added.

"I don't care about that right now. I'm just glad Jolteon will pull through. I'm in debt to Callum" Ash said.

"Friends always stick up for each other." V sighed. "But that's even for attacking others..." He broke off, something that he rarely did.

"So how will you approach them if you have to fight them for the tournament?" Lucy asked.

"Not sure about the others, but Garchomp already called dibs on Max." Ash inferred bluntly, causing the others to gasp.

"And I thought I was mad. Garchomp never wants revenge." Greta stated in surprise.

"Shocked me at first too, but I can't blame him. He knows Jolteon's past as well as I do, so he feels like he needs to get proper payback." Ash explained.

"It figures." All of them turned to see Callum walking out of the ER. "Gloria told me everything. I'm surprised they still had the guts to do that, after yesterday's lecture."

"Kids will be kids." V responded, with a face of wanting to kill someone, an expression rarely seen, even by those close to him.

"I owe you one Callum." Ash thanked, "How is he now?"

"Stable." Callum summarized, looking at his capture styler, "All that's happened to him is a broken leg, crushed ribs, and a slightly frozen paw." He looked up. "If you excuse us, Gloria and I will go out and train." Both he and Gloria made their way to the exit.

Ash shouted after them, "Thanks for everything!"

"Don't mention it!"

Brandon looked at a nearby wall clock. "Well Noland and Thorton are done. Should we go see what happened?"

"Sure. Let's go." Ash began walking away until he stopped next to Anabel. "And Annie?"

She blushed slightly. "Yes?"

"If any of them face me in the later rounds, I'm getting payback." Ash said darkly.

She turned around to look at him. "You sure? Their Pokémon aren't exactly our level, and I don't want to brutalize them because of their trainers."

"They follow their trainers orders to kill like servants. I'm done playing nice guy. They provoked my ruthless side, and now they will get the full result. I didn't want to, but they played with fire by trying to kill Jolteon. And I intend to make sure it burns. Badly." He inferred coldly.

Anabel sighed. "Alright. I understand. Just don't go too far."

"I don't plan to." He said as he started walking away.

The other Frontier Brains exchanged looks that showed much fear in their eyes. They all shared the same thoughts. 'This is going to get bad.'

. . . . . . . . . . .

Ash was standing in the Frontier Box as he continued to watch the rest of the tag battles for the day. He was leaning up against a wall by himself as Pikachu watched with him. The other Brains tried to approach him, but he was being distant again, which was something they never wanted to see again.

Currently, they were viewing a match of Wattson and Elesa against Acerola and Nanu. The match was getting extremely close, with both sides down to their last Pokemon. But Ash wasn't too interested, as his thoughts were drifting elsewhere.

"Hey, is Ash here?"

"Hmm?" Ash turned around at the sound of his name and saw Lillie at the door, where Scott answered. He was a little surprised, but he turned his attention away once again. Scott let Lillie into the box and closed the door behind her.

Lillie quickly spotted the Castle Guardian leaning against a wall. "Ash!"

She walked up to him. "I heard you went to the Battle Buffet. I was planning on going there with some people. What did you think?"

The other Kanto Brains felt the temperature drop about twenty degrees as Anabel tried to speak up. "Uhh, Lillie. Ash doesn't-"

"The place is nice." Ash spoke softly. "Just make sure you are careful. Some of the trainers that appear there aren't pushovers."

Lillie smiled seemingly not noticing Ash's little emotional shift. "I'll keep that in mind."

Then the box was eerily silent, the temperature dropping so badly that V had to nibble on an Aspear Berry. Lillie finally managed to notice something was off with Ash. She quickly grew worried, seeing a side of Ash she had only seen once before and never wished to see it again. "Ash, is something wrong?"

Ash sighed as the others tensed. "It's a long story, Lil. I really don't feel like reliving it right now."

"But Ash-"

"Lillie. Come over here for a second." Greta called out as she gestured her over to where her and the other two female Kanto Brains were seated.

Lille moved over and plopped into a seat next to them. "What happened? He was so happy yesterday."

"We had a bit of... an issue at the Battle Buffet. Ash was going after food when he ran into Max, A.K.A, the little glasses dweeb. After an exchange, they separated until Max came back with his sister. And the next part..." Lucy hesitated.

Lillie grew scared. "What? What happened."

Anabel looked down. "They broke Battle Buffet rules and ganged up on him in a two vs one. Ash was using his Jolteon, who already has a bad history, while the other two had a Glaceon and a Gallade. Ash lost the battle due to not having Jolteon long enough to make him on par with his other Pokémon. But before Ash could recall Jolteon..."

"I know I'm going to regret asking, but what?" Lillie asked in a mumbled tone. She was already scared of what might have happened.

"They brutalized him. Or at least attempted to. Max called a Shadow Sneak even though the battle ended, and they tried to kill him with full power attacks." Greta finished.

Lillie's eyes widened, tears already forming. "Please don't tell me he's..."

Lucy shook her head. "No, he's alive. Ash lost his cool and released his Garchomp, one of his strongest Pokémon, to protect Jolteon and finish the job before anything else bad could happen. Ash managed to get Jolteon to the Pokémon Center, but he vowed that he was through taking it easy on them. Now, he's acting distant."

"You should consider yourself lucky. You're the only one who's managed to make him say a few sentences since we got up here." Anabel elaborated.

"I can't blame him. It's not like he could completely control the outcome of that fight. He has every right to be depressed." Lillie stated.

"Well it's partially my fault." Everyone eyed Greta. "Every single time Ash dropped a hint of worry or Anabel noticed he looked off, I made fun of his eating habits, which means we didn't take him seriously. If we had, maybe the outcome could have been different. It's just as much my fault as anyone else here."

"Greta, you can't go blaming yourself." They turned to see the Dome Ace leaning on a chair just behind them. "None of this should have happened in the first place. Ash's former friends caused this, not you. They made a choice, and now Ash is determined to act on it. And I want him to, because those punks need to be disciplined and embarrassed in front of this crowd out here if they are truly going to understand their mistakes."

"He's right. This stage here is where it matters. The tournament is being broadcasted across the globe, so if they act out of character, it makes them media fodder. Heck, the news lines already came out with stories of how the Kalos Queen and her partner are being criticized by critics and higher ranking officials for acting completely out of order and taking the insults too far. Serena's popularity dropped by thricefold, and Clemont's inventions are quickly dropping in interest on the market." Lillie stated, remembering the new she saw on tv.

"So Ash wasn't kidding when he said they weren't worth bothering anymore after he beat them. They literally lost their entire fanbase like that?" Anabel asked.

"It wasn't really the fanbase as much as it was their sponsors." Tucker elaborated. "I should know, cause I run a fashion line in my spare time. Because of their outlandish behavior, their titles were dirtied, so the people that supported them by giving certain payments or gifts, who are called sponsors, left them to not get caught in the media crossfire. It helps keep their business alive by not keeping relations with infamous people."

"So they couldn't attempt to change the details of what happened?" Lucy asked.

This time, Noland chimed in from below them. "Impossible. This tournament is being globally televised, which means everyone sees this. And I mean everyone. They can't hide anything out here without it being publicly shown."

"And Ash had all of this figured out? Amazing." Greta muttered.

"I don't know if he thought 'that' far, but he knew that if they tried to act like smart alecks in a place this big with so many people watching, then it makes them look bad to the public." Noland inferred.

"He's right. Every move they try gets recorded or seen in some way. So I can guess they probably caught Clemont and Serena trying to provoke Ash before the battle even started. So they were screwed from then on." Lillie added.

"And he beats them in battle with ease, causing their insults to look scornful and full of jealousy. So when you think about it, it really does ruin them. That's pretty insane." Greta finished.

"It is. But does Ash know about them losing their titles?" Lillie asked.

"If he does, he hasn't said anything to us. And I doubt he feels bad about it, considering what they put him through for the last three years." Anabel said.

"Well I'm going to see if I can cheer him up a bit." Lillie stood up.

"Lillie, I don't know if-"

"Let her try." Anabel cut Noland off. "She at least got him to speak a few words. Even I couldn't do that."

Lillie noticed the small amount of disappointment in that last statement. "Well, here goes nothing."

She slowly approached Ash, who was still staring off at nothing. His face just a blank expression of mixed emotions. He blinked for a second before he noticed Lillie was there. "I assume they told you?"

Lillie nodded. "Yeah. They did. You want to go get a drink at the trainer area in the Pokémon Center?"

Ash frowned, but decided not to be rude. "Sure."

They took a slow walk of silence out of the Frontier Box as the others hoped Lillie would be able to reason with him. All of them let out sighs the moment the pair walked out, everyone thinking the same thing. 'We hope you can help him.'

. . . . . . . . . . .

Evening time bore down on the Indigo Plateau, as the shadows casted by the setting sun danced around with the wind. Some people were doing some extra training in the fields while others were simply taking the time to relax, having either been already defeated or waiting until the next round.

Lillie had taken Ash to a booth in the Pokémon Center's own little café, hoping the scenery would ease his mind a little bit. Both had ordered some Roserade Tea as their drink choice and were currently sipping them down.

Ash sat his cup down and looked at the stadium as it casted its massive shadow over the Pokémon Center. "You know, I never wanted things like this to happen."

Lillie gave a curious look as he continued. "I always thought that they believed in me no matter what happened. That the strong bonds of friendship we made would hold through until our later years. I never even gave way to the thoughts of them betraying me. Heck, even after all they did two years ago, I held on to the light thought they might have finally grown up and realized their mistake. But I was wrong both times. It was foolish to think that everything would go back to normal."

"No it's not." Lillie pipped, making Ash turn back to her. "You always value your friends and your Pokémon above everything. That trait is what makes you the person you are, and it isn't something you should change."

"But that trait has put everyone I know at risk. Anabel almost died trying to help me escape, and Jolteon almost died fighting for me. I hate letting the ones I care about get caught in the crossfire. It's just not fair to them to deal with my problems." Ash stated.

Lillie sighed. "Ash, the more you try to keep them out, the more they want in. They're worried about you. Anabel's upset that she couldn't even make you speak. It isn't fair to them if you just force them out even though they want to help."

Ash said nothing as she continued. "Ash, you always attempted to help me get over my fears of Pokémon. I never attempted to push you out or any of the others for that matter. And look at where I am now. It's because of you and everyone else helping me get over my fear after so many years of being afraid. It may have taken some time, but it still happened. And if you would do the same for the others, then you wouldn't have to worry so much."

"Your situation is very different from mine, Lillie." Ash stated.

"Elaborate."

"For starters, we never really put ourselves at risk trying to help you. Your situation was but a fear, which was an obstacle for you climb. Mine isn't an obstacle, it's a death trap. The amount of times they tried to intentionally harm me or someone close to me is stacking up quickly. If I let the others get involved, everyone else could be put at risk."

"But what about the others already somewhat involved, huh? Tell me that."

"Thanks to an old friend of mine, Brock should be fine. And once Jolteon gets better, I'll train him soon to make sure he is strong enough to handle a situation like that, and Bonnie and the other Brains can take care of themselves right now. And you have the rest of my Alolan friends to back you up."

"Ash, you're missing the point! Everyone wants to help you. It isn't doing you any good keeping the others out and taking the brunt of the damage by yourself. And even if you try to not let us get involved, after what happened at the Battle Buffet, do you really think the others will just let you face this alone anymore?"

Ash didn't respond. "No they won't. So let us help you. With all of us together, we can take them on easily. They won't be able to beat us all. You have a group of professional A grade trainers as friends, and basically the entire Alolan Island Challenge group at your back. We can all take them easily. They talk smack, but they can't really hold it up considering the amount of slaughterfests you keep hitting them with."

Ash still refused to say anything. His partner, laying down below him, climbed up onto his lap and tried to grab Ash's attention, which he eventually managed. "What?"

"Pika pi. Pikachu pi pika!" Pikachu gave a small salute to his trainer.

Ash gave a light chuckle before finally looking up at Lillie, who was attempting to stifle her laughter, but failing miserably. The group shared a laugh before Ash finally spoke again.

"Alright. You win. I won't push the others out of my problems anymore." Lillie gave a sigh of relief as Ash stood up, Pikachu hopping onto his shoulder. "Now I need to go check to see if Jolteon has woken up yet. I'll see you tomorrow before my battle."

"One more thing." Ash turned his head back around.

"Make sure you apologize to Anabel. That hurt her when you refused to speak to her. Ok?"

Ash felt a pang of guilt before nodding. "I'll make sure of it. See you later. And thanks."

"No problem. I needed to return the favor for helping me get through my problems." Lillie grinned as Ash walked out of the diner, feeling as though a weight has lifted off his shoulders.

. . . . . . . . . .

The world seemed to be covered in a blanket of darkness as Ash walked into his room. He saw Anabel sitting on the couch in her night clothes as she was about to start an episode of the new Purge series that they both got hooked on, while V was already asleep, sprawled over the table, head on laptop (causing lines of unreadable lines of "Fuihguavdufygui" and "iniuyYibdau" to pop on the email he was writing), with earmuffs on to block out the sound. The room dropped a few degrees before Ash walked up to Anabel. Pikachu jumped off of his trainer and onto the arm of the couch, next to where Espeon was.

Ash stopped and gave her a small smile. "Hey."

Anabel stood up. "Hey. So how did your talk with Lillie go?"

Ash could tell she was hiding a little bit of hurt, but decided to wait. "It was an eye opener I guess. She helped me see that I was being an idiot."

"You weren't being an idiot. You were just in a bad place for a small time. With what happened to you, old memories can do that to a person." Anabel assured.

"Still though. I shouldn't have taken them on solo and risked Jolteon. I just wanted to keep you guys out of it for the sake of your enjoyment."

"Ash-"

"I'm not done yet. I closed you all out when in reality you just wanted to help me. It's not right for me to keep you out of a situation you want to be involved with. I just didn't want anyone to get hurt. And I'm sorry that I closed you out especially. You've always cared about my well-being and to refuse your help wasn't right of me. So I want to make it up to you." Ash finished, while V's light snores returned to being audible.

"Ash you don't have to make it up to me. I understand."

"Well I still want to." Ash stated.

"And if I don't want you to?" Anabel asked.

"Well I still will anyways."

"What if I make you not do it?" Anabel said as she tried to hold back a laugh.

"Too late. Already happening." Ash piped.

"Ash!" Anabel playfully whined.

"Nothing you say or do can stop me. I am going to make it up to you." Ash exclaimed.

"Oh alright. I doubt it could be that bad." She laughed. "So do you already have a plan or something?"

"There is a nice restaurant on the opposite end of the plateau. After tomorrow, before the Top 128, you and I are going on a date. That is, if you would like to go on a date with me?" Ash smiled.

Anabel thought aloud, even though secretly, she already had an answer. "Well let's see. Lucy and Greta wanted to take me shopping at a clothing outlet because of a huge sale."

Ash gave a nod. "Well I won't stop-"

"But, I suppose I can always tell them to go without me." Anabel said.

Ash frowned. "You're toying with me, aren't you?"

"What gave you that idea?" Anabel said with an innocent tone, giving Ash a look.

"Oh that's it. Come here." Ash grabbed her and held her as he fell onto the couch, her above him as he locked his arms, preventing her escape.

"Ash! Quit it!" Anabel giggled.

"No can do. You already toyed with me, so now I get to toy with you." He laughed.

"If you don't let go, I swear." She said as she attempted to struggle.

"I'm using Bewear Hug. It's apparently super effective." Ash joked.

"Ash! Come on! I need to turn the episode on." She pleaded.

They continued their little struggle until Ash finally let her go so they could start the episode. Just before turning the episode on, Ash spoke. "So, what is your answer?"

The next moment caught Ash off guard. Again. She leaned in close and planed a soft kiss on his cheek. He was frozen for a second as his cheeks turned into Tamato Berries. Anabel flushed too, but gave a giggle at Ash's expression before leaning onto his arm and laying her head down.

"You don't know how long I wanted you to ask that." She stated. "Of course I will go on a date with you."

"You've waited for me to ask that?" Ash frowned.

"Yeah. It's a little cheesy, but I've been hoping for a while now. You took me to places before, but you never really made it elaborate or anything." Anabel confessed.

"You like me that much?" Ash questioned.

"Why wouldn't I?" Anabel countered as if it were a ridiculous question.

Ash smiled. "Well then maybe I need to start doing that more often. Hopefully this goes right."

"Knowing our luck, probably not." Anabel bluntly remarked. "But I don't care."

It was silent before Ash finally spoke again. "Well what are we waiting for? I've been wanting to see this all day!"

. . . . . . . . . .

Sitting at home all alone is something Delia grew accustomed to since Ash had left. But the current situation was a little different this time around. Finally finding someone else she can actually see all the time instead of for a few weeks each year has helped her tremendously. Ever since her former husband has been reported missing, she has been holding onto the hope that he would return, but he never did. Ash never knew his father that well, and she never got to spend enough time with him.

And since Ash left, she had finally found another person. It took a little bit, but they both ended up finding out that they had similar situations. He had a wife that died at second childbirth, a son who recently started his journey, and a daughter that he couldn't support for a long period of time, who he ended up sending to foster care until she could become a trainer. They had an argument when she saw him again after seven years, which led to them never speaking again after that.

With more similarities than differences the pair quickly grew together, and Ash's former mother went from Delia Ketchum to Delia Collins. Now they spend their time in Pallet together as they continue to spend their life together. Her husband, James Collins, managed to earn a degree in Software Engineering, and he worked in a top software shop in Viridian City (Delia couldn't quite remember the name, but it definitely ended with "Systems"), which thanks to his car, is only forty-five minutes away. Twenty minutes, without traffic.

Now as she sat alone to wait until her husband got home from work, she heard a call coming on her video phone. She pulled out the casserole from the oven and took off her oven mittens to answer the phone. Much to her surprise, it was Misty.

"Misty? What could you want at this hour? I thought you would be busy with the tournament."

"About that." Misty started. "A little weakling came back who is bothering us and cheating all over again. Let me give you a hint. He has black hair and his name rhymes with trash."

Delia frowned. "You're joking. He's still battling?"

Misty scowled. "Yeah, and he just brutalized May and Max at the Battle Buffet!"

"That boy..." Delia muttered. "Alright. I'll see if James and I can get over there tomorrow. He's free Sundays anyways, and he could always leave a note to his busy employers saying he's going to be out a few more days."

"Ok thanks. I'll see you then."

As Delia closed the call off, she heard the door unlock as her husband walked through the door. "I'm back!"

Delia stood up from the where she was sitting, and looked over at James. "You know how I mentioned my son, who ran away because he was cheating and being stubborn?"

"Yeah. What about him?" James asked as he took off his work boots.

"Well he's causing trouble at the Tournament on Indigo Plateau right now. Do you think you could take a few days off and we could go set him straight?"

James was silent for a moment as he hummed in thought. "Well I don't see why not. I'll just call my employers and tell them that we're going to be gone."

Delia gave him a chaste kiss. "Thanks hon. Now let's eat. I made casserole."

. . . . . . . . .

The following day drifted on fast, as before Ash or Anabel knew it, they were about to start their next fight against the twin team of Jake and Daniel. If they won this match, they just had to win one more battle until the Top 128. As the Frontier duo rose up, they saw their opponents smirking at them. Both dressed in what looked like dark pants, a white shirt with a red jacket over it, in combination with their looks made them almost identical, as they both had grey eyes and black hair with their smirks lining their faces.

"Well, well, well. You both showed up. Too bad-" The one on the left said.

"-cause you're done this time. You can't get through the unbeatable sibling bond of Jake and I." The one on the right finished, who they realized was Daniel.

"Unbeatable, huh? I like a challenge. Ready Anabel?" Ash asked.

Anabel grabbed a Poké Ball. "You bet."

The ref rose his flags. "This is a tag team battle between the twins Jake and Daniel and the Frontier Duo Ash and Anabel. You know the rules. Now release your Pokémon."

Daniel and Jake went first. "Garbodor-" "Escavalier-" "Come on out!"

The Unovan native Pokémon were released once again, staring down the familiar opponents. Ash and Anabel nodded to each other as they threw out their Pokémon.

"Lucario, I choose you!"

"Mienshao, come out my friend."

The fighting type duo got into a stance as they prepared to battle their opponents across from them. Everyone tensed as the ref rose his flags. "Now let the battle begin!"

The Frontier Brains wasted no time. "Lucario, use Extremespeed to get close then use Bone Rush."

Jake (or was it Daniel?) wasted no time reacting either. "Escavalier, get in front of Garbodor and use Iron Defense."

"Mienshao, use Fake out on Escavalier."

As Mienshao froze the Escavalier with the flinch off Fake Out, Lucario drew close to Garbodor, making Daniel (okay, the previous person was Jake) a bit unsettled. "Use your arms and push him back."

Ash recognized this strategy. "Oh no you don't. Lucario, use your Aura."

Lucario closed his eyes as he began to feel for his surroundings. After painting a picture using his Aura, he began dodging the flailing arms of Garbodor with ease. After stepping in close, he let loose on the Poison type, landing many Bone Rush hits before pulling back.

"Wow. You must've trained with Roxie." Ash praised.

Jake frowned. "You've met our cousin before?"

Ash smiled. "Yeah. She was my last gym battle before I qualified for the Vertress Conference several years back."

The twins eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, you mean-"

"-you actually beat her?"

"In retrospect, she told me to use my full team while she used three, and cured my Pokémon from poisoning in the middle of the match, but in the end, I still managed to win by only one. I remember her Garbodor pretty well. You must really take after her."

"Of course we do." Jake nodded.

"She taught us almost everything we know." Daniel added.

Anabel smirked. "Then let's see how far that knowledge gets you. Mienshao, use High Jump Kick."

"Lucario, rush Garbodor down with Dual Elemental Punches." Ash commanded.

The Aura Pokémon formed an Ice Punch and Thunder Punch in each hand and rushed quickly at Garbodor.

Daniel smirked. "That's not the only trick in my book Ash. Dodge it."

Before Lucario could land any hit, Garbodor disappeared in a quick blur, appearing behind Lucario and hitting it with a swift Drain Punch, sending him flying. Ash widened his eyes.

"Crap. Weak Armor." He muttered.

Daniel heard him. "Exactly. You want to make this a speed game, then you better be ready."

Meanwhile, Anabel's Mienshao had just landed a High Jump Kick, but Escavalier had used Iron Defense to lessen the impact, and was now engaging Mienshao in a close quarters fight.

"Mienshao, use Power-Up Punch."

"Don't let it get close. Use Twinneedle."

The two Pokémon began attempting to land a hit, each thing that they threw, getting dodged by the other, until Anabel noticed something.

'He uses his long arms as a way to keep Mienshao pushed back. That's It!'

"Mienshao, wait for the next attack."

As Escavalier came in for a Megahorn attack, Anabel waited until the right moment. "Now Vital Throw!"

Mienshao grabbed the arm of the Escavalier and chucked it over her shoulder, sending it over towards Lucario and Garbodor. Ash noticed this before Daniel did and moved fast.

"Flip and send him down with a Force Palm."

Lucario managed to jump above one more Drain Punch and sent Garbodor to the floor. It's big mass managed to become a target, as Escavalier crashed right into him. As the dust cleared, both Pokémon were registered as defeated, groaning as they laid on the ground.

"Escavalier and Garbodor are unable to battle. Mienshao and Lucario win. Send out your last Pokémon."

The twins recalled their Pokémon, giving thanks for trying so hard. Then they gave a swift glance up before pulling out their next Pokémon. "It's true what the power ranks said."

"You both are some of the few to be trifled with in this tournament."

Ash gave Anabel a quick glance. "Did Scott ever mention power ranks?"

"No. But I do know they are a tournament thing. But I never really paid them any attention." She answered.

"Enough simple chatter. Let's continue. Sawsbuck-"

"Druddigon-"

"Come on out!"

As more Unova Pokémon came out once again, Ash and Anabel gave a nod to the ref, stating they wish to keep their Pokémon in. "Alright, battle begin!"

Nobody moved for a moment as the opponents sized each other up. Anabel turned to Ash.

"I think this is the right situation for the new Attack Chain we discovered this morning. I just need Druddigon in a good spot."

"Hmm, I'll set the Druddigon up, but keep Sawsbuck on your end. Otherwise, this might not work." Ash inferred.

"Got it." They turned back to see the twins about to call attacks. Luckily, Ash and Anabel are quick with their reflexes, like their fighting types.

"Druddigon, use Dragon Claw."

"Sawsbuck, use Horn Leech."

"Lucario, meet the Dragon Claw with a Meteor Mash."

"Mienshao, use Detect, then go for our new Attack Chain ten!"

Lucario and Druddigon got into a direct standoff with their attacks meeting and holding their places. Mienshao managed to dodge to the left and avoid the Horn Leech before driving a Poison Jab uppercut to Sawsbuck's chest. Then before anything else could be majorly registered, Mienshao started firing a flurry of Drain Punches before sending an uppercut to send the Grass Pokémon flying into the air.

Mienshao followed up into the air before slamming down on Sawsbuck with a Knock Off and Poison Jab combo. The sad part for the twins was Lucario still was holding Druddigon's standoff, near where the impact point of Sawsbuck was supposed to end up.

Ash widened his eyes. "That was quick. Lucario, use Circle Throw."

Lucario sidestepped and grabbed the Druddigon's arm, flinging the Dragon type towards Sawsbuck with the Fighting type move, making sure to apply power to the throw. Just before they were to make impact, Ash and Anabel smiled to each other before turning back to the battle.

"Twin Aura Sphere!" They yelled in complete sync.

Both Fighting types smirked as they let loose the blue spheres of energy quickly, making sure to strike the pair as they both collided with each other. A brief explosion resulted, and past the smoke, both Pokemon were revealed to be fainted with swirls in their eyes.

"Both Druddigon and Sawsbuck are unable to battle. Lucario and Mienshao win."

Ash and Anabel smiled at each other before returning their Pokémon, giving some words of thanks. Before they moved more, they found their opponents walking over with arms extended. Brief handshakes occurred, the twins giving smiles in the process.

"You both won." Daniel acknowledged.

"Now one of you better win the tournament." Jake added.

The Frontier Duo nodded. "We will. You two take care. We need to go do a few things. Great battle."

With no more words to exchange, Ash and Anabel left the stadium, unsure of what would appear before them past the locker room.

. . . . . . . . . .

Ash took a step out of the locker room first as he called back. "Alright. I'll go grab some. I think I left the Oran Berries in my bag at the box."

Anabel called back. "Ok. Just be quick. I'd like to make sure they still have energy before we take them to Nurse Joy."

Ash closed the door and jogged towards the nearby elevator before stepping on with a small group of people. He hit his button before they climbed to the top level, where the boxes were at. Ash stepped off and made a dash for the Frontier Box, pulling the door open and stepping inside. Scott was there with Brandon, Palmer, and V.

"Not bad. They sure grew from last month, huh?" Scott asked.

"Yeah. Too bad they already took on the challenge, or I would offer it again." Ash said before glancing around the box and spotting his bag. "There it is."

"What did you forget?" Palmer asked.

"Oran Berries. We are just making sure our Pokemon have enough energy to go through a good checkup, cause they had a run for their money that time." Ash responded as he put his bag on his back.

"Mind if I come with you? I need to go down anyways." Scott stated.

"Same." V added, getting up from his chair. "My throat his begging for lemonade."

"Sure. Let's go." Ash held the door open for his boss and mentor and closed it behind them as they walked for the elevator.

"I think they might have made it to Top 128 if we hadn't faced them. We know those strategies too well." Ash sighed. "They have a lot of potential."

"Wanting to live up to someone like a Gym Leader can do that to a person. Roxie is one of the finest Gym Leaders Unova has. Her and Drayden were marked as the strongest Gym Leaders in their region for the longest time until Drayden had to retire." Scott inferred.

"Yeah. Too bad that gym had to go to Iris. If Drayden had known what she did to me, he would've brought down a punishment, considering how strict he is." Ash said as they stepped into the still open elevator and hit the bottom floor button.

"Yeah. I thought that you should know, since Iris became Gym Leader, the Gym has really gone down in popularity. I asked around and someone told me that she berates her challengers by calling them little kids every time they do something wrong even if they win. Rumor has it she's still doing it in the tournament right now."

"Even if they're not kids?" V asked. Scott nodded. "Wow. 'Excellent' guessing of their age."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Yeah she did that to me too durring our journey in Unova even though I pretty much knew most of what I was doing anyways. She gets pride out of berating people, which honestly should be enough to kick her out of the position right now. A Gym Leader is like a Frontier Brain in the sense that they are supposed to make a challenge for the person. Not make the person want to strangle her."

They stepped out of the elevator. "Didn't you tell me something about Skyla and how she would not do legitimate battles with challengers and that she would just make up the result in her head? That's not much different, huh?"

"It actually is. Iris is deliberately taunting challengers. Skyla did it because she wanted to do more of her hobby and didn't think it would tick anyone off. I was the one who make her think otherwise. It was just like with Volkner for a time, who was on a crazy long win streak, causing him to lose his battling spark and just give out badges at his doorstep, which it took me and Flint to set him right."

They were getting closer to the locker room until Scott stopped. "Well glad I talked to you for a bit. I need to go visit with Goodshow. I'll be back later."

"See you in the room." V said, "I need to reply to an email after this drink."

Ash waved them off as he continued to walk away and towards the locker room. He was about to grab the handle until he heard a loud and familiar voice call his name. One that he never wanted to hear ever again.

"Ashton Ketchum!"

Ash froze and turned around, anger forming upon his face. Standing right there was Delia, his former mother, along with some black haired person as well. Ash could only assume that was her new husband.

He decided to play it off. "I'll make this quick since I have a place to be. Who are you and what do you want?"

"Don't play dumb with your mother!" She yelled.

Ash rolled his eyes. "I don't have a mother. Haven't since I joined the Battle Frontier. Now if you would just leave me alone, I need to go to my Pokemon."

"What, so you can give them more drugs!?" The man stated in anger.

Ash blinked slightly in confusion. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"James Collins. I'm your new stepfather." He stated with crossed arms.

"Then you must be mistaken. You aren't my stepfather because I am not in that family anymore." Ash inferred coldly.

"By legal means, yes you are. And due to those legal means, we have the right to make you obey us. So you are coming with us this instant young man!" Delia glared.

Ash heard the locker room door open. "Ash, is that you? What's going..."

Anabel gasped as she saw who was outside with Ash. "Oh no..."

Ash thought she meant Delia alone, but he saw her gazing at James harshly. The man widened his eyes in surprise and shock. "A-Anabel? Is that really you?!"

"...Dad." She said coldly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, done. Another heavily edited chapter. The OT (B) chapter really surprised me, and the path of this story is heading to a trench. Oh boy.
> 
> Just like OT (B), James is not from Team Rocket (There is 1 Impostor Among Us), but due to the lack of lore and background, I decided to add my own. Here it is:
> 
> 1\. Like in the text, James is an Engineer. However, Bl0t0rch never mentioned what kind of engineer he is. He's a software engineer in this story
> 
> 2\. What's more, he works for Go-Go Systems. Yes, the same company Goh's parents operates
> 
> 3\. James is exactly 1 level lower than Goh's parents. I'm not sure which is higher: Chairperson or CEO, but whichever one is lower, that's the position James has
> 
> I'm already looking ahead towards the sequel. I'll probably start working on that during the hiatus (it will not be published until I'm done with COO). Once again, help out and submit some OCs
> 
> Other than that grim note, see you next time!


	10. True Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Chapter is done at last. Really excited for the next episode of Journeys. I'm going to put the sequel on hold for a bit because the episode may just change everything
> 
> The hiatus actually may not happen because I've been plotting out the next chapter and realized that the next chapter has no need for OCs. But still try to submit. I still have no submissions

Ash widened his eyes in surprise. "Dad?!"

Delia looked at her husband incredulously. "She's your child?"

"Not now. He isn't apart of my life anymore." Anabel inferred with light venom in her voice. Ash could visibly tell that she was trying to keep her emotions intact. "I haven't spoke with him in years."

"Anabel, w-what are you doing with him?" He stuttered.

Anabel hugged onto Ash's arm. "He's my tag partner and my boyfriend."

Ash almost frowned, as he wasn't aware they made it official since they hadn't had an official date but for the sake of the argument, he decided to roll with it. He moved closer to Anabel. "That's right. Now you two better leave us alone. I don't care if you are legally married to my former mother or not. I disowned my family and friends when I left. Neither of you are a part of my life."

"So leave us alone. We will file restraining orders if we have to." Anabel claimed, making her 'father' glare.

"You can't do that!"

"Of course they can."

Delia flinched at the hard tone and turned to see Brandon and Palmer (sadly, V was not there: most likely still drinking lemonade) standing there, arms crossed as they gave off an angry aura. James, however, didn't seem to notice this, or most likely, didn't care, as he glared at them.

"And what right do you have saying this, huh? She's my daughter and legally he's my stepson."

"Well too bad, cause 'legally,' no they aren't." Palmer inferred, emphasizing his words, especially on legally.

"That's a load of Tauros crap!" Delia yelled.

Brandon walked in front of them. "Scott adopted Ash to make sure you had no effect on him. And I adopted Anabel after she became my student in battling almost years ago. You can't legally do anything to them."

Palmer walked next to them. "Go grab your Pokémon, cause I saw Dawn and a few others nearby. Hurry."

Ash and Anabel ran inside the locker room and snagged their Poke Balls and watches before stepping back outside to see Palmer wasn't lying. Dawn was suddenly there with Paul and Misty next to her.

They saw them come back out. "So are you going to admit to what you did to Max and May's Pokémon?"

Ash had half a mind to go punch Paul, but held his ground, partly because he knew that V could do it a lot more efficiently and brutally, but also partly because he needed to defend himself. "That I beat them in self-defense for trying to kill Jolteon? Cause that's exactly what happened."

"No, you brutalized them with Garchomp because you got upset over losing the battle." Paul claimed.

"Do you want me to get the medical records and prove it? Cause that won't take me five minutes since he is my Pokémon. And don't get me started on the witnesses" Ash snapped.

"Knowing you, you forged the records and bribed your so-called 'witnesses.'" Misty glared.

Brandon let out a harsh chuckle. "Forging documents and bribery. Ash definitely has the IQ to do that."

Ash deadpanned. "You know what? I'll take that as a compliment this time."

"Whatever. Just admit you brutalized them and tell the owner of the buffet that and quit the tournament. It's not like you'll win anyways, weakling." Dawn demanded.

"I don't need to win to prove how wrong you all are about me. I just need to watch as you all slowly fall while I keep climbing up. Cause everyone in the tournament that is still in knows I'll get farther than any of you ever will."

"And how many times did I kick you across the pavement in battles?" Paul retorted.

"Coming from the guy who lost to me in the Sinnoh League, where my Pokémon were at their strongest in Sinnoh." Ash fired back.

"And he actually beat me young man. Unlike someone who couldn't take out even one of my Pokémon." Brandon added.

Paul fumed, but Brandon didn't stop and redirected his focus towards James and Delia. "So do you all understand now? Ash cut all ties with you long ago. You have no right to make him do anything you want, and as I am Anabel's legal guardian, the same rules apply to her. You have no power against them. If I hear any more of this nonsense from her, then I'll personally show you just how much power I have. Do I make myself clear!?" Brandon glared harshly.

"No you don't. Who gave you permission to adopt my daughter?" James demanded.

"You did. After you made me spend my childhood in an orphanage." Anabel retorted

"I didn't have the means to support you. But now I do! We can be a family again." James assured.

"You know, maybe in a different situation, I would've thought about at least speaking to you again." James smiled a bit. "But you sided with the one person that Ash never wanted to see again. The one person that reported him dead for two years."

James turned to Delia. "You told me he was just missing."

"Well I didn't think he would actually live for so long, so I told the police he was dead."

"And there you have it. She cared so much about him that she reported him dead instead of at least missing. Now leave before we get angry." Palmer threatened.

Delia held firm. "You can't make me leave my son! He is mine and I can make him do whatever I want."

"NOOOOOOO!" Brandon did his signature yell, making her recoil in fear. "Do I need to spell it out for you?! You do not own him now. Now get out of my sight!" He yelled.

They all ran away in fear, scared that Brandon would actually follow up on his claims. The Pyramid King sighed as he turned around to Ash and Anabel. "Are you two ok?"

"Yeah. We're glad you came at the right time. Otherwise this would have become an all-out brawl." Ash stated.

Brandon nodded. "Well I'm surprised it didn't. People as stubborn and idiotic as they are also have shorter fuses. It's impressive that they didn't even pull out their Pokémon."

Palmer agreed. "Yeah. It's just depressing to see them fall so low." He turned to the pair. "So what was the thing we heard about the boyfriend and girlfriend, huh?" He asked, smirking.

Brandon crossed his arms as he glared down at Ash. "I would like to hear this too."

Ash chuckled nervously while Anabel took the lead. "We used it as an act to get my 'Dad' to back off. We were lucky that you came along, cause that didn't exactly help."

"So it was all an act?" Palmer asked in slight disappointment.

Ash glanced at Anabel, who gave a curt nod before Ash responded. "Kind of."

Brandon frowned. "What do you mean 'Kind of?'"

"Since I pushed everyone out for a bit when Jolteon got hurt yesterday, I upset her some. So as an apology, I offered to take her on a date to a restaurant." Ash informed.

Brandon paused before he nodded. "Well that seems valid enough."

Ash relaxed for a second until Brandon looked Ash in the eyes. "But don't you dare hurt her. As much as I like you Ash, I can always turn that around for Anabel's sake. Are we clear?"

Ash nodded quickly, making Brandon give a rare smile. "Glad to know that." However, hurried footsteps could be heard, and the "owner" made himself shown.

"I heard an argument and angry shouting." V stated, peering from a corner, a glass bottle of lemonade perched in his right hand (with a straw sticking out). "What happened here."

Ash and Anabel informed him everything that had happened.

"Shame." He said through sips. "Could've sued them in court with my seven-person legal team. But life doesn't always give you what you want."

Brandon decided to end the sour topic. "Now let's go to the Pokémon Center. Lucy baked a cake and she wants us to test it. Apparently it's a new recipe."

Ash grinned. "Count me in."

Anabel giggled. "Just make sure you hold yourself back. I want some to, you know."

"Well then let's go. Time's wasting." Palmer said as they all walked to the Pokémon Center, leaving the ugly scene behind them.

. . . . . . . . .

The following day came easy for the group of Frontier Brains, as it seemed Arceus spared them the annoyance of dealing with any more of Ash's past (though V was still keen on learning about Ash being the "Chosen One" and all that), but it wasn't the time to be worrying about Ash's past. Currently, all of them were out in a clearing doing something that they all seldom get to do together:

"Latias, use Dragon Pulse."

"Regirock, use Focus Punch."

Training.

The two attacks collided, the force at a complete standstill until an explosion occurred, indicating a standstill in strength between the two legends. Brandon and Ash gave each other a smirk.

"She definitely follows your orders to the letter Ash. I would almost think you both have been partners for ages." Brandon complimented, making Ash smile.

"In a sense, that's true. I've known her for a long time. But to be battling alongside her in an actual battle is something I could not have forseen before she showed up."

"I must also give her credit for her strength. You know as well as I do that pushing Regirock into a standstill against its Focus Punch is not an easy feat."

'Ash did train me from time to time and gave me ideas on harnessing my strength. I practiced everything he taught me constantly. He may not think he did all of this, but he had a part in it. That's a reason why I wanted to be his Pokemon in the first place.' Latias responded through slight pants of breath.

"Well then it seems you both made a wise choice. Now Ash, do you think Azelf would like a go as well? Latias has already been at it with us for about an hour now. She sounds tired." Brandon asked.

"I think so. Let me ask it." Ash flashed his watch and released Azelf from the small Pokemon container.

"Azelf?" Azelf gave Ash a curious glance.

"Hey bud. You want to do some sparring with Brandon?"

Azelf did a flip mid air before taking the spot right in front of Ash and giving a determined glance. Brandon switched out Regirock for Regice as they prepared for battle.

Meanwhile, Anabel and Spenser were working with Latios a bit. The male Psychic Dragon was already somewhat powerful, but lacking any real training and guidance put him at an incredible disadvantage against Ash's Latias. So Anabel asked Spenser for assistance in helping him improve. With the two sharing much Psychic type experience, Latios is improving steadily.

"So you seem to be grasping the concept of using Psychic like a hand, but how long could you hold something heavy?" Spenser asked.

'I couldn't tell you. I usually never grab the heavy items if I use Psychic.' He exclaimed.

"Well then let's start simple. Try picking up that log over there." Anabel gestured to the downed log that seemed to be close to four feet wide. Latios' eyes became blue as he attempted to lift the log, but could only hold it for a few seconds.

"Well that's progress. Maybe we should start smaller. Try grabbing that rock." Spenser pointed to a rock that seemed to be the size of a skull. Latios grabbed it and was holding it, but one could already easily see the sweat and exertion etched upon his face. After a few moments, Anabel had him release it.

"We should try using multiple of those. I feel like it would make the process go faster if he had more."

Spenser nodded as he tossed out a Poke Ball, which revealed a Golem. "I need you to go find rocks that appear to be this size. About three more should do. Can you manage that?"

The Golem nodded before rolling off, leaving the three behind to deal with their own matters, namely having Latios fight V's own Regirock, whom V had kindly allowed them to use while he had to answer so many calls. Anabel smiled at Latios before getting back to work. However, as she continued, she asked herself in her mind:

'Why couldn't this become an annual thing?'

. . . . . . . . . .

The following afternoon came quickly. As the last battles before the Top 128 were about to kick off, Goodshow had told everyone after the last match of the day, there would be a battle between two famous trainers. Goodshow inferred that it would be randomized who the famous trainers were, as so many candidates would fit perfectly, which means that whoever was going up there would be decided by a computer.

Ash was stoked to see who would be fighting along with most of the others. Scott had already told them that it wouldn't be likely that any of the Brains get picked for this since it isn't like the Brains are famous yet. So all they could do was wait to see who would be up to battle and how it would go.

"I can't wait. This is going to be awesome!" Ash said with a grin.

"Can't calm down for a second, can you? Even after all the training that happened this morning, you're still full of energy." Greta stated.

"I can't really blame him. If it's decided between Elites and Champions, then this will be an intense fight. You rarely see this happen except for exhibition matches prior to a tournament. But this one is an all out fight." Noland inferred.

"I'm curious as well. We don't usually get to watch these up close." Lucy added.

"Yeah. Battles like these are always fun to watch." Anabel added.

Argenta sat down behind them. "These matchups always become interesting depending on the opponents. After all, I saw a match between Wikstrom and Malva years ago, and Wikstrom almost won the battle even with a disadvantage."

"That's why battles like these always annoy me. It makes my data obsolete sometimes." Thorton grumbled.

"Oh get over it. You need to enjoy battles like these instead of making constant calculations. If you relaxed and just watched it, then I could bet you would enjoy it more." Scott insisted.

"Here he comes." Ash said as Goodshow approached the microphone.

The Pokemon League Director cleared his throat before speaking. "Hello once again everyone. I am glad we had such a huge turnout for this battle. Now if you would turn your heads to the big screens, then you will see as the computer shuffles around many trainers before it picks one out."

True to the statement, the names were circulating on the screen at an incredible pace until finally they stopped suddenly on one name.

"And the first battler is Sinnoh's newest Elite member, Tobias!" A cheer erupted from the crowd.

Ash smiled. "What do you know? I forgot he joined them."

"Wasn't it because of Bertha's retirement?" Anabel asked as she turned to Palmer.

The Tower Tycoon nodded. "Bertha was getting up in age, and everyone knew she would stop eventually. When she announced it, it wasn't a surprise. But everyone was surprised to hear that Tobias took her spot instead."

"Yeah. Even though he primarily uses legends, he is just as good with his other Pokémon, as proven when he battled Cynthia. He deserved the spot for sure." Argenta added.

The names started circulating once again. The crowd quickly grew silent as anticipation snached their voices off their tounges. The last name seemed to take forever and not long at all, as it finally appeared, shocking everyone in the Frontier Box.

"And the last one is the Kanto Battle Frontier's own Ash Ketchum!"

As the crowd roared again, everyone in the Frontier Box was stuck with their jaws open until Ash turned to Scott. "Unlikely?!"

Scott rose his hands up. "How was I supposed to know?! None of the Brains usually ever end up in something like this!"

Ash sighed. "Looks like it's time for a rematch."

"You can do it Ash. He may be an Elite, but he isn't unbeatable." Greta cheered.

"Having legendary Pokémon doesn't make him invincible." Lucy stated.

"Don't freeze up out there young man. You are just as capable of defeating him as me." Brandon assured.

"Nothing is truly invincible." V said, trying to make sure Ash's spirits wouldn't fall off a cliff (as they usually did for the past few years).

"I believe in you. We are all cheering for you up here." Anabel smiled.

Ash smiled at everyone. "Thanks everyone. I'll give it my all."

Ash rushed out of the Frontier Box when Scott turned to Brandon. "You seriously think he can do it better than you?"

"I don't lie to people Scott." Brandon said simply.

. . . . . . . . . .

"He's actually battling an Elite!? No way!" Hau stated from the Champions box.

"I'm surprised. I never knew he would be picked." Alder inferred.

Cynthia said nothing, making Steven lean in. "That was your favor, wasn't it? You wanted Ash to fight Tobias again."

"And if I did?" Cynthia stated with indifference.

"Then you might have just done Scott a favor, and made the Battle Frontier that much more famous." Steven smirked.

"Well they need publicity, don't they? And Ash is probably their most famous one outside of Brandon." Lance added, making Cynthia jump.

"Just what makes you both think I had something to do with it?" Cynthia glanced at the two of them.

"Cause you enjoy watching Ash battle. Everyone does after all. And his tag matches with the Anabel girl made you even more curious as to how much he grew, so you wanted to see for yourself." Diantha surmised. "We aren't all idiots. Hau and Ash are great friends, making him happy for the result, and Alder just doesn't always pay attention. You know that."

Cynthia shrugged, but realized that most of the others were staring her down. "Alright! I did it."

"Good. Now we can enjoy the match." Lance stated, making Cynthia glare at the Dragon Tamer.

. . . . . . . . . .

Ash had just made it to the tunnel and started to walk out. He saw Tobias walking up to his Trainers Box as well. Once both of them entered in, they smirked to each other.

"Well this is oddly familiar, isn't it?" Tobias chuckled.

Ash smiled. "You're right. It is. Except this time I might just beat you."

"Now, now. Don't get that cocky. But I would be lying if I said I didn't believe it was possible as well." Tobias mused.

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road!" Ash smirked.

"Gladly." Tobias smirked back.

The ref rose his flags. "This is a one-on one battle between Castle Guardian Ash and Elite Four Tobias. Now release your Pokémon!"

"Alright, I think it's time I start off with something new. Kommo-o, come on out!"

The Alolan Pseudo was released from the ball and landed with a roar, making Ash blink for a second before reacting to the Pokémon before him. "Ok then... someone's been to Alola."

Tobias chuckled. "I've been a lot of places, Ash."

Ash smirked. "Well so have I."

This grabbed Tobias's attention, as Ash revealed a Poke Ball. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't prepared for some sort of Dragon. Now Noivern, I choose you!"

He tossed the Poke Ball up into the air, releasing the Sound Wave Pokémon, who let out a loud roar, making the stadium shake briefly. Tobias rose an eyebrow for a second before smirking. "Dragon versus Dragon. This will be fun."

Ash nodded in agreement, looking as the ref rose his flags up in the air. "Noivern versus Kommo-o. Battle begin!"

Ash narrowed his eyes in focus. "Alright Noivern, this will be tough, but stay focused. Don't take your eyes off of him." He said, speaking low enough that only Noivern could hear.

"If you refuse to make the first move, then I will. Rock Slide." Tobias ordered.

"Like we practiced. Now dodge it."

The rocks came sliding out of the air, falling towards Noivern at a quickening pace with the heavy weight. Noivern floated for a second before twisting around a single rock, agility evident with the style of movement that he was displaying. He moved around each rock, leaving no room to be hit by any of them. Once the attack, stopped, Noivern appeared unscathed.

Tobias widened his eyes a bit. "Impressive. I've never seen such movement before."

"I always make sure to find ways to help minimize weakness issues. After a year of nonstop training, we perfected this strategy together to help with Rock type moves in case the situation came up. Now Dragon Pulse."

"Dragon Pulse as well."

Both fired the green blast of draconic energy as they collided with each other, indicating a standstill. In the midst of the smoke, Ash decided to test his luck. "Boomburst!"

Noivern let out a shriek of soundwaves through the smoke, aimed anywhere to catch Kommo-o. Tobias, however, looked unfazed. "Run through and use Ice Punch."

Kommo-o ran through the smoke, taking the Boomburst as if it did nothing. Ash growled to himself. "It would be Soundproof. Just my luck. Protect."

Noivern stopped the attack and formed the green shield, letting the Ice Punch bounce off harmlessly off the barrier. "Now use Dragon Claw."

Before Tobias could react, Noivern struck at Kommo-o's back with the Dragon Type move, dealing significant damage to the pseudo as he cried in pain and annoyance. Tobias frowned before coming up with a strategy.

"Use Rock Slide. Then follow up with a Clanging Scales."

Rocks slid down towards Noivern once more, making the Dragon attempt to dodge them. Then came the Clanging Scales, the noise striking Noivern in the side, ramming him into some rocks. Ash grit his teeth momentarily before realization dawned on him.

"Noivern, use Boomburst and aim it at the ground."

Tobias gave a confused glance while Noivern used the sound attack to hit the ground, breaking some of the rocks up.

"Now use Hurricane!"

Tobias saw the strategy forming. "Clever. Use Rock Polish!"

The scales on Kommo-o seemed to glisten a bit as his speed increased. Noivern fired the Hurricane, but Kommo-o dodged it with ease. However, Ash simply smirked.

"Keep using Hurricane!"

Rapid amounts of the Flying type attack were slung towards the pseudo, who was nimbly dodging them all quickly. Tobias let out a light chuckle at the futile attempts to land a hit.

"Come on Ash. Surely you're better than this."

"You may want to take that back in a moment." Ash stated, indicating that Tobias might be missing something.

The Elite looked around and noticed that the field was slowly becoming a sandstorm on the side Kommo-o was on. He could see his Dragon type flinching at the sand as it raged on him, wearing him down quickly with residual damage before a stray Hurricane attack caught him briefly. Ash smirked at the look of surprise Tobias gave off.

"Alright, now use Draco Meteor!"

Tobias wasn't giving in himself. "You use your own Draco Meteor as well!"

Both Pokémon sent out their most powerful attack: The ultimate Dragon type move (though, as V said before, Roar of Time was stronger). They fired together, both attacks sent towards opposite ends of the field. Kommo-o attempted to use his multiplied speed to dodge the attack, but the amount was just too many for him to handle. As for Noivern, he attempted to use the same agility he used on the Rock Slide, but the Draco Meteor was coming down too fast for the Dragon type to handle. One struck his tail before causing a domino effect. When the smoke cleared, both Pokémon were struggling to stand up.

Ash tossed a quick glance at Tobias. "You think so too?"

Tobias nodded. "Yeah."

Ash looked at Noivern. "Thanks bud. I'm proud of you for keeping up with him. You've really grown since you were a Noibat. You don't have to struggle now."

"You too Kommo-o. You both really tore into this field, but I think that's enough. I don't want you to go too far. You did great."

Both Dragons nodded at their trainers before looking each other in the eyes, giving their own individual smirks before collapsing, letting the darkness and unconsciousness take them for the time being. "Both Noivern and Kommo-o are unable to battle. The match is a draw." The ref concluded as the crowd roared with cheers.

. . . . . . . . .

"Well this is staged." Paul rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"What makes you say that?" Dawn asked.

"Cause Ketchum should've lost to Tobias in one attack no problem. He's too bad to even put a dent in any of Tobias' team."

"Yeah. They should have put someone actually strong down there and make it look like a real match." Misty stated.

Meanwhile, they couldn't hear someone clenching their fists in annoyance next to them, but if they could, they probably wouldn't feel the anger coming off of the individual.

'This is sad.'

. . . . . . . .

"Wow. That was impressive." Steven stated with a bit of surprise.

Cynthia tossed him a glance. "Didn't think Ash could handle this?"

"I figured it would be interesting, but I didn't expect that to come out of Ash. You don't even see that skill coming from Gym Leaders." Steven exclaimed.

Diantha gave a smirk. "Seriously Steven? I feel like you're the only one who doesn't know Ash is capable of those strategies."

Lance smirked too. "I agree. And here I thought you knew to expect anything from Ash."

Steven just smiled. "It's not like I've battled the kid before. Two of you have, and the rest have watched him in league tournaments."

"Well even then, Ash isn't one to take lightly in a battle. He can pull off some strategies you would never expect out of a trainer. He can turn type disadvantage into his favor in a heartbeat." Alder added.

"Yeah. Ash usually beat me pretty good back in our journeying days. That's what pushed me to get as good as I am now." Hau stated.

"Quite impressive. I wasn't too sure who had the upper hand in that match." Lance said as they all turned back to the field, looking at the field as the two battlers tended to their Pokémon.

"You know, in terms of strength and skill, I would not have recognized him. But just by looking at him right now, he still shares the same bond for his Pokémon as he always has." Diantha remarked.

"He really would make a great Champion or Elite Four member." Cynthia stated aloud.

"He truly would. After that display, I want to fight him myself." Wallace stated.

Lance smirked. "Sorry Wallace, but you will have to wait in line."

The others turned towards the Dragon Tamer. "I already challenged him myself."

The entire Champions box gasped. "You challenged him!?" Cynthia cried out in shock.

"Yeah. If I don't face him in the tournament, I asked him for a full six on six battle after the tournament ends. He agreed." Lance informed.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Wow. That was awesome. Yoish!" Greta stated with a smile on her face.

Tucker gave an exaggerated pose. "Simply marvelous."

Brandon nodded in approval. "That's Ash for you. I never had a doubt."

"Yeah. This makes me wonder how he will do against Lance when they battle." Anabel wondered.

"Anything can happen. After all, Ash still has a few trump cards that he hasn't used yet." Lucy said.

"I wonder if he's capable of beating a legendary now." V mused, looking into outer space as he tried to piece together Ash's true, raw, strength

Scott smiled to himself. 'It feels like only yesterday when I saw him battle Agatha. He's come a long ways since I first met him. And he still has so much more to show.'

. . . . . . .

Ash grasped Tobias's hand. "That was awesome Tobias. Thanks for the match."

Tobias smiled. "It's no trouble Ash. Now I can see why Cynthia and the other champions are so interested in you."

Ash frowned at that. "They set this up, didn't they?"

"You have quite the sharp eye." Tobias commented. "But alas, it wasn't all of them. It was Cynthia's idea."

"I'm confused though. It's been like this since Anabel and I had our tag match. Why are they so interested in me in particular?" Ash asked.

"Out of your generation of trainers, you have shown the most promise and growth in such a short time. Just a few years with the Battle Frontier and look at you now. We know Brandon is powerful, but you and that Anabel girl showed enough strength and potential to be considered Elite level, and you're both still growing alongside each other. And the champions want to see how far they can push that, especially on you." Tobias explained. 'Though I think Anabel might be next if what Diantha has been saying is true.' He thought to himself.

Ash nodded. "Well good to know, I guess." He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He could only hope for the former.

"Good luck in the rest of the tournament. I have business to go finish up on my own. I'll see you around." Tobias said as he walked away.

"Later Tobias." Ash waved him of as he took his own leave from the arena.

As he walked out into the lobby, he saw all of the brains already down there waiting on him. It only took a few seconds for the Castle Guardian to be mobbed by his family with a light chorus of congratulations from all of them. He thanked each of them until his eyes stopped on Anabel. She had Pikachu on one shoulder and Espeon on the other. He walked up to them with a light grin on his face.

Anabel noticed the grin. "Hopefully your ego didn't just take a big jump after that battle." She joked.

Ash waved off the jest as Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder, nuzzling his trainer slightly. "Well I found out what is going on with the champions."

After a quick explanation of what Tobias told him, they all had baffled and confused looks on their faces. Scott managed to snap out of it first. "They better not be planning what I think they are."

"Even if they did want me to join them, I have no reason to. Everything I need is with the Battle Frontier." Ash said as he turned his head to Anabel. "Including you."

Anabel blushed lightly while the others chuckled at the scene. However, it did not take long to break the atmosphere.

"I can't believe you're acting like you're so good when the match was clearly staged."

Ash knew that voice all too well, which brought only one thought to the minds of him and his co-workers. 'Why can't we catch a F***ING BREAK!!'

They all turned towards the side to see all of his treacherous old friends standing there looking at all of them with annoyed expressions on their faces. "Stop acting so high and mighty and wake up and smell the roses. You are not as good as you think you are. Leave the battling to people that are actually good, like us." Paul fired off.

Ash rolled his eyes. "I should be telling you the same thing. Did the argument that we won before not tell you that? Or what about the battle Anabel and I won against Clemont and Serena?"

"You cheated in that battle!" Max proclaimed. "You beat them in a single hit! That's not possible by normal means!"

"Kid, if the strength gap is that big, then of course it's possible." Noland chimed, rolling his eyes. "Serena isn't that much of a battler and Clemont had been getting lax by letting his robot fight for him."

"Or maybe it's the steroids you two are using." Max butted.

Scott sighed. "You know that the Pokemon are checked before and after the battle for drug usage. Your claim has no merit."

Paul growled. "That's it! Ketchum, I demand a battle from you! If I win you admit that you cheated like the loser you are!"

Ash frowned. "No."

"No?! You scared or something?"

"No, I just don't want to embarrass you any more than you already have yourself." The Frontier crew erupted with laughter.

"That's it!" Paul attempted to throw a punch at Ash, who caught it quickly. He gave Paul a very blank stare while the others were giving him 'Are you serious?' looks.

"You move in slow motion compared to the rest of my Pokémon." Ash stated and shoved him back to his group of friends. "I would also try to keep that temper in check. You're way too mad to beat me."

Paul erupted in fury. "How would you know?! You haven't even fought me in years!"

"Because this is exactly how you got when you fought Brandon at Snowpoint City several years ago. You were angry and snapping at every turn, and in turn, you never beat a single Pokémon." Ash responded legitimately. "What makes you think you'll have any luck? Especially going against high-class trainers with this much anger running through you. Think about it for a second."

Paul growled. "I don't have to listen to anything you have to say!"

Ash shrugged, disappointment on his face. "Your loss, Paul. We're out of here."

And before any more heated words could be exchanged, the Frontier Brains were gone in an instant.

. . . . . . . .

Ash and Anabel were cleaning up a little bit before their date. They had both decided on a simple diner not too far from where they were staying. Supposedly the place served Pokémon as well, so they resolved to bring Pikachu and Espeon with them. And they also had to promise themselves not to dress far too nice for this date.

After all, while they may be mature beyond their years, they still had the hearts of young teenagers.

It took a minute, but they were finally all set. Ash was wearing simple faded jeans and running shoes with a white Battle Frontier longsleeve, but had a blue jacket over it. He was also wearing a small Poke Ball hat that he had picked up from one of the accessory stands earlier. He lacked his fingerless gloves though, revealing slightly rough and calloused hands that came from years of training.

Anabel herself had taken to simple wear as well. She had on a pink tank top that was under her purple jacket. She wore white skinny jeans and had on tennis shoes as well. She opted out of a hat, but had on sunglasses to mask her face slightly. She had no doubt that they would get pointed out even if they were on a date, but she couldn't care less. Let the fans make their drama, it isn't like her and Ash put much stock into rumors.

Once they were ready, Espeon and Pikachu joined them as they walked out of their room together.

The walk to the diner was short. Ash memorized the directions (shocker, I know) and got there in no time at all. They took seats at a small booth near the corner, which was away from the small amount of people that were cluttered close to the bar.

Ash sighed to himself. "I want to be happy right now, but them claiming that I didn't tie legitimately against Tobias has been annoying me all afternoon!"

Anabel's look turned sour. "Believe me. I know how you feel. Being told that the only reason I'm good at battling is because of my ability gets old just as fast."

Ash started petting Pikachu to attempt to calm himself down, much to the little mouse's enjoyment. "I know that I'm not the best battler, nor am I the best trainer. But to downgrade and discredit my achievements is stupid."

"They really don't have much room to talk. It isn't like any of the have done much. Only one of them has done anything worth praise since you've been gone. So just don't let it get to you too much." Anabel tried to pacify his negative emotions.

"I know but-" Suddenly, he picked up an odd scent. "Wait. Do you smell that?" Ash asked.

Anabel sniffed a couple times. "Yeah. Now that you mention it, I smell an odd mix of honey and Oran Berry pie." Then she widened her eyes. "Wait, that scent's familiar."

"Lilligant, you're doing it again."

They turned their heads to see a familiar blond staring at a beautiful Lilligant with an amused expression while said grass type blushed in embarrassment.

"What am I ever going to do with you?" He mused with a chuckle.

"Callum!" Ash called out to the ranger, who turned his head. His bright blue eyes shined lightly in surprise when his eyes landed on Ash and Anabel.

He walked up to the pair and grasped Ash's hand into a handshake.

"Well if it isn't the talk of the tournament himself." Callum joked and turned to Anabel, giving a slight bow. "Anabel. A pleasure to see you as always. I heard you two have been getting famous in the brackets recently. Care to explain?"

While Ash gave Callum the rundown of what had been going on with the champions, Pikachu and Espeon jumped down to greet Lilligant with light cries. The three of them appeared to get along extremely well.

"Huh. Never knew the Champions were the type to play with someone like that." Callum mused. "Cynthia, I can see, but Lance is a shock. Never seen the guy take that much of an interest in someone since Bruno."

"Well we don't really know why they're interested. I mean, everyone at the Arc Tournament is good at battling in one way or another." Anabel stated.

Callum rolled his eyes. "I guess I'm not surprised, but I figured you could see it. It's more obvious from an outside perspective."

Ash and Pikachu tilted their heads in confusion, comically mimicking each other. "What do you mean?"

"You two are basically the biggest representation of battling talent in your generation."

Now Anabel was lost. "Explain."

Callum rubbed the back of his head. "The Champions have an eye for talent. They can see potential in nearly every individual, but some individuals have this spark. It's kinda like what you see in your challengers, for instance."

The pair nodded and motioned for him to continue. "However, what they see is different. There's a reason why they are Champions after all. They have the talent to see what their pokemon are capable of and bring it out through their extensive bonds that they share. Not a lot of people can do this especially at a young age. But you two have progessed at a rate similar to former Kanto champion, Red. And they wan to see how far they can push that potential of yours."

Anabel frowned. "We aren't that special."

"Only you two would be so modest." Callum shook his head. "You're far more than that to a lot of us. Especially to people that know you really well, like me. I dare you to ask Scott later."

Ash smiled at that. "Thanks, Callum. We appreciate it." Then a question came to him. "So why are you here?"

Callum sighed. "You know, one thing I missed about Galar was the famous apple pie."

He put a hand on his Lilligant's shoulder. "There weren't any restaurants around, but I came here, and didn't just find the pie, but also you two. Small World."

He sighed once again. "Have you seen the match-ups yet?" He asked.

Ash raised an eyebrow in confusion. "No. Why?"

Callum began to laugh. "Well, Gloria and I managed to be paired against you two. I wonder how things will come out."

"We're against you next?"

Callum began to laugh. "Yup. The two of us against the two of you. Well, I'm going to let you two enjoy your date."

They blushed hard. "How did you know?"

"I didn't. But if it wasn't, I'd have been disappointed." He answered with a small smirk. "You still have my number, right?"

Upon getting a nod, he walked away, giving a two fingered salute. "If you need me, call me. I'll catch you around."

"See ya later Callum." Ash responded.

Anabel frowned. "We're against them? This just got a lot harder."

"Yeah." Ash agreed, but smirked. "But that just makes it even more fun!" He declared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting from now on, I'll be including a preview of the next chapter in the end notes, which'll only consist of snippets of dialogue (Dialogue may be subject to change)
> 
> Preview:
> 
> V: Well, I'm rooting for the four of you
> 
> Max: You stole those Legendary Pokémon!
> 
> May: They ate it up like how Chespin eats Macaroons
> 
> Trip: I've been lied to, impersonated, and possibly insulted
> 
> Ash: What are [Spoiler] and [Spoiler]?


	11. Eons of Energy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash and Anabel have their battle against Callum and Gloria, but the former is beginning to have his doubts on V...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's Block.
> 
> That really made me slow on this chapter. Ugh. And maybe from studies and watching real life Police Chases on another screen. I guess that's why...
> 
> So. An original chapter. At this rate, the story is going to get interesting.
> 
> Some things I'd like to talk about V and Winter:
> 
> 1\. Within the Western Zodiac, V is a Scorpio (Born November 20)
> 
> 2\. V has not driven a single car other than the ones provided in to him from the International Police. He's probably going to need to get a new license soon...
> 
> 3\. Winter has a usual stoic and warm personality. The reason why he's crying in his debut chapter (not going to look good for how some people look at him) is because he's been defeated for the first time, no less by a cheater, which makes him sadder. Why? He takes pride in defeating all sorts of cheaters. He hasn't been this emotion ever since finding out that his younger sister died (she was still a Kirlia). More on that in the sequel.
> 
> And some other things:
> 
> 1\. Trip not being an actual bad guy in this story stems from another Bl0t0rch: a really popular one named Fighter. I didn't include the quote, but he's really hoping he's going to face one of Ash's former friends.
> 
> 2\. Calem has a Lucario, just like in Pokémon X/Y
> 
> 3\. According to a semi-canon source (Novelization of the anime), Ash is born on May 22. I'm wondering how I'm going to use this in the story...
> 
> Enjoy!

Ash and Anabel weren't exactly in the mood for relaxing. Tomorrow's match was against two of their strongest rivals, and oh yeah, their "parents" were most likely going to bar him from entering.

Their worries were shook aside as they saw V waiting patiently for them in front of the Pokemon Center. His face was curved in a slight amusement, and the two tag partners could almost predict what was about to come out of his mouth.

"Have you seen tomorrow's match-ups yet?"

Both of them nodded, but Ash had something else to add.

"Which team are you rooting for?"

"Err," V frowned. He never expected to be asked this question, even though it was about 4 people he knew the best. His face suddenly returned back to its amused state. "Well, I'm rooting for both teams." The trio burst into laughter.

Once the laughter had died down, V returned to his usual seriousness, albeit, a bit lighter than normal. "No. That wasn't the reason why I came out here to greet you two." He scanned his surroundings and motioned towards a forest. "Not here. Your trick may be overheard."

But as the trio left, a certain nerd with glasses was watching them and followed.

"Let's see how you cheat this time."

. . . . . . . . .

Honestly, Trip wasn't exactly so sure how he ended up in the tournament twice. But yet, there it was, a second him in the next day's tournament match-ups. Trip briefly considered taking a picture of the potential mistake with his camera before he heard a hushed voice in the briefing room next to him mention his name.

"Did you hear that Trip burned down the Pewter Gym?"

Trip confused face turned into one of shock, before he hit "record" on his teal camera and continued to listen in on the conversation.

"Whatever you're saying, this is all a lie." Trip muttered to himself

. . . . . . . . .

"So, what is this all about V?" Was the first thing Anabel asked when she, Ash, and V had entered the nearby forest.

V frowned. "Do you really think that you two can take on two trainers who came close to beating champions?" He asked. "Remember the last time you battled Callum and Gloria."

Ash and Anabel looked at each other. V had a point. The last time they battled the duo didn't go exactly their way. It was a double battle, 12 on 12, and the event was, to say the least, a massacre. The Frontier duo had lost all of their Pokémon within minutes, while Callum and Gloria's lead Pokémon, Sceptile and Inteleon respectively, had remained standing without barely a scratch.

V smiled slightly. "You can turn the tide this time. You have Lat..." V's face suddenly took a look of horror as Ash and Anabel tried to comprehend what was going on.

Without warning, V turned 180 degrees and pointed his gun at a boulder. "I know you're there." He snarled. "Show yourself otherwise I'll believe you're a threat." He kicked a boulder aside before adding: "Yes, this is a real, functional gun. And I'm not afraid to use it."

The only response to his intimidating stance was a single word. "Teleport."

And the only thing that occurred after was a flash of pink and blue light.

Anabel frowned. "You don't think we were spied on or anything?" She asked.

"No" V responded. He put on a black trench coat and unloaded the gun before placing it inside one of the inside pockets. "I didn't get to the important stuff yet. Whoever was hiding there would only know about your failure. That's it."

He turned around. "Where was I? Oh yes. You have Latias and Latios, so I was figuring to give these to you." He took two boxes covered with purple cloth handed one each to both of them. "Take these. You'll need them."

Upon opening the boxes, both Ash and Anabel widened their eyes. In the boxes were two stones (for each, duh): one pale blue, transparent orb with a DNA symbol and a much smaller orb, which was red for Ash and Blue for Anabel.

Anabel finally managed to find her voice again "Y...you...these must have been expensive." she squeaked.

V laughed. "Expensive?" He asked between chuckles. "No, no, no. I excavated the two mega stones, but yes. The Keystones were expensive." He cast a suspicious glance at Ash. "And I thought that you would've gotten a Keystone some time during the past 3 years."

Ash looked confused. "Three? wasn't it si..."

"Have you been looking at a clock at all?" V asked incredulously. "It's only been three years. Though I have to admit, it did feel like six."

"Why are you giving _us_ the advantage though?" Anabel asked, inspecting her Latiosite. "It's surprising you're supporting your colleagues rather than your own sister."

V sighed once again. "Your skill doesn't match their's. I hope you've got an impromptu strategy for this, because I can't exactly help out. Come on, let's head back."

. . . . . . . . .

Max was running as fast as he could towards the room his friends had rented. The...interesting bits of information he gathered were quite valuable. In his haste, he didn't notice a certain teal camera lying at the door, recording everything in its wake.

However, when he opened the door, someone unexpected greeted him. Someone with black hair reaching his neck, wearing clothes that looked exactly like what Ash wore in Kalos.

"What do you want, intruder?" He snarled. Max gulped. "If you're not of much use you can ge..."

"Let him in. He's my brother." May called out.

Max gave out a sigh of relief as Calem reluctantly allowed him in.

"Okay. So. The little bag of trAsh is having his battle tomorrow." Max explained "What's more it's against two people they've never managed to beat before."

May snorted. "So? It's not like those two cheaters are going to wi..."

"Sis. The friend they have with them gave them 'a little something' that'll allow them to win."

"Yeah?" Calem asked. "What is it?"

"Couldn't tell. He managed to sense I was there and thought I was a threat. I barely made it out of there with my life."

Dawn paused and an idea formed into her head. "This treat may allow them to win, but no need to worry! We can simply stop them from reaching the battlefield."

Calem paused. "So we stop them with everything we have, right?"

Misty gave a rather evil smile. "Yep! And Mrs. Ketch...Collins can help us a bit."

"Considering that Brandon and Palmer managed to scare them off yesterday, I have real hopes for them." Paul said sarcastically.

"It won't exactly matter." Trip said (and the Trip outside almost dropped his camera). "All we need is enough time for those two to be disqualified from not being present."

"We'll also need to be outside the locker room to deny their entry in the event that they do get past." Max added.

All this while, Trip was gathering information with every single word that came out of a mouth.

. . . . . . . . .

The next morning made Ash very excited, an emotion he probably hadn't felt in 3 years. He had a Latias, an Azelf, and a Keystone. The excitement was noticed by Anabel and V as he sat down for breakfast.

"Excited?" Anabel asked.

"Nervous?" V added.

"Yes and No." Ash responded confidently. He took the fork and began eating the bacon on the plate in front him.

V chuckled. "You know." He said, "You remind me of the small time-span I would have before facing Leon. Blaze and I would be really hyped up before battle before a crushing defeat."

"Blaze?" Anabel inquired.

"My Cinderace." V explained. "Not that old ability. Here." V took out his phone, unlocked it, selected a few photos, and threw it to Anabel.

The photos showed V (or Victor, to be precise) with a large white rabbit in numerous locations.

"You two seem to go really far back, Victor." Ash said teasingly, while munching on steak.

"Don't speak while your mouth is full." V scolded, taking a sip of lemonade between sentences. "But yeah. Blaze was my first Po-"

"ASH KETCHUM!!!"

V instantly spat out his lemonade, causing a mess on the table, Ash choked on his steak, and Anabel dropped V's phone. Thankfully, the phone, which was a Rotom Phone, hovered a few inches above the ground. Meanwhile, everyone in the dining area stopped what they were doing to look at the commotion.

Once again, Delia was standing at the doorway with James, although this time, the former was holding a megaphone.

"ASH KETCHUM. I WANT YOU TO PULL OUT OF THIS TOURNAMENT RIGHT NOW!" She shouted into the megaphone, causing the unfortunate people in front to cover their ears in pain.

"No!" Ash shouted back, cheeks slightly turning red. "I've made it this far, so I'm not going to be pulling out of this tournament!"

"You drug your Pokémon, that's why you've made it this far!" James shouted back.

Numerous gasps of disbelief began to spread among the spectators like wildfire. Every now and then someone would say "Unlikely" or "Impossible."

"It's true!" James continued. "How do you think this young man became the First Alolan Champion Legally? He didn't! His Pikachu was drugged: that's how he defeated a Legendary."

"HE HAS AN ALIEN AND A MYTHICAL." V said, taking out a megaphone of his own. "THAT'S HOW HE GOT THAT FAR."

"So?" James asked "That Mythical wasn't even used against the Legendary. Besides, it's newly discovered. How do we know if the power it exerted was its own raw strength or the results of drugs?"

More murmurs of disbelief.

"I DON'T DRUG MY POKEMON!" Ash screamed, now on the verge of tears: another emotion he hadn't felt for three years. "YOU CAN TRASH-TALK ME ALL YOU WANT, BUT UNDERSTAND THAT I WOULD NEVER GO SO LOW AS TO DRUG MY FRIENDS AND PARTNERS!" He sat down and curled into a ball, wishing that is was all a nightmare, which it unfortunately wasn't.

"YOU CAN'T DRUG A STEEL-TYPE." V shouted. "YOUR CLAIM HAS NO MERIT."

It was then when James noticed V for the first time.

"Arceus, no." He muttered. "It can'-it can't be you." He turned to Delia and said. "We should leave."

"I AM NOT LEAVING!" Delia responded, turning the megaphone on him. "DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE SIDING WITH THEM."

"I'll explain later." James coughed up. "I'm at a huge risk by being next to..." he pointed at V, who was looking at him unamused "Him."

"HOW IS HE THAT IMPORTANT OR THREATENING?" Delia responded. "I AM NOT LEAVING WITHOUT MY SON!"

James cast a nervous glance at V, who was busy deciding between calling his contacts named "Corporal Havoc" or "Aunt Camille," with his gloved thumb going back and forth between the two names.

"Do you want me to lose my job?" He hissed in a low tone that no one except for Delia (and Ash, who was tapping into Aura, but couldn't concentrate that well due to the tears, causing a few people to raise eyebrows at the glowing human who had lights flickering on and off). "He's the nephew of my employers. He could be prepared to dial them right now. And the name 'Corporal Havoc' seem threatening."

He cast another nervous glance at V, who was glaring back at him with a _very_ unamused expression.

"And by the looks of things," James continued "Your son and my daughter have been training under Him."

"What?" Delia whispered back, taking a glance at V, who was still prepared to call. "How would you know?"

"We don't know Him that well, but he almost always accompanies them." James muttered through gritted teeth. "We should leave right now."

"NO!" Delia shouted. "I am not leaving him to continue to cheat."

"You will leave right now. I cannot allow you to sabotage Ash and Anabel's attempts in the tournament, even they are our rivals and opponents."

Delia and James turned to encounter Callum and Gloria glaring at them, but the arrival of the two simply reignited James' anger.

"What gives you the authority to evict me, young man?" He hissed, grabbing Callum by the collar of his shirt, causing Gloria, Ash, Anabel, and V to widen their eyes in horror.

"Er, Pokemon Ranger Corps?" Callum asked, presenting his identification.

James snatched the ID card and began to read it, allowing Callum to gasp for breath while being back on his two feet. "Let's see. Callum Bale. Pokemon Ranger Corps. 7th Division." He continued to drone on with legal information, although said legal information was kept quiet from public. "Seems legit." James said, satisfied. "My apologies Ranger. I run into a lot of frauds sometime, so I wouldn't have been surprised if you were a fake as well. My wife and I shall leave immedi-"

"Let me see that." Max said, popping out of nowhere and snatching Callum's ID before he could take it back. After some "examination," Max ripped the ID in two, causing a gargled scream to let its way out of Callum's mouth. "Obviously a fake." Max declared smugly, continuing to tear the Valid ID card to pieces, much to James and Delia's own surprise.

Ash wanted to lunge at Max and hit him on the face repeatedly, but a firm hand from V left him standing.

"Don't." He said sternly. "It's not worth it."

James was busy chewing out Max. "Young man. This person's ID is real, and you come over and call him a counterfe-"

"Are you saying you can't tell the difference between something fake and something real?" Max asked tauntingly. "That person was obviously using a fake ID to falsely justi-"

"Max! Wrong person." Someone called.

"Whoops." Max said sheepishly, then walked off.

"Kids these days." James muttered, walking off with Delia following begrudgingly.

Callum and Gloria gave Ash and Anabel a "Good Luck" nod, before walking off to prepare.

Ash sat back down, sighing. "I can't wait to battle my 'friends' and beat the hell out of their Pokemon" He said bitterly.

"Don't go too far." V said, putting his phone away. "Or Mesprit and I will make you. Your choice."

Ash stared for a moment, dumbfounded, before he spoke again. "Forgot you had Uxie and Mesprit." 

V let out a chuckle. "Yeah. Sometimes I forget as well." He checked his watch and frowned slightly. "You two better get going. It's almost time."

As if on cue, everyone in the room began to leave in anticipation for the match, having saw the Exhibition Match yesterday. However, try as he might, Ash was unable to leave his seat, which wasn't noticed by V and Anabel until they left the cafe.

"Ash?" Anabel asked, seeing that Ash wasn't them at all. "Where are you?"

"ASH?" V called, using his megaphone once again. "ARE YOU LO...WHAT?"

Both of them had Ash in their line of sight and was seeing Ash squirming in his seat, unable to get up. Both V and Anabel rushed over, but V had seen something white on the floor. A close inspection allowed him to conclude that it was:

"Superglue." V announced, seeing how his right index and thumb were unable to separate. "It's obviously sabotage."

"But who would do such a thing?" Anabel asked, trying to pull Ash out of his chair, but failing (all while Ash was screaming in pain).

"Dunno." V answered, still trying to pull his two fingers apart. "There were a lot of people watching, so I'm surprised that the person who did this had the guts to do so." He took a sudden glance at his watch. "15 minutes. You don't have enough time to get to the stadium and be inspected at this rate."

"So what do we do?" Anabel asked. "Carry him and the chair to the stadium? That's going to be _a lot_ of effort."

"I have plenty of strong Pokémon to drag him over." V responded, after having finally pulled his fingers apart. "Regirock, Regigigas, Winter..." V checked his watch again and began to panic. "I was mistaken. 10 minutes left."

He and Anabel tugged at Ash's arms with a huge amount of force, causing the young trainer's screams of pain to grow even louder. Until...

"Serperior, Dragon Tail."

A blur of green and purple later, Ash was standing, with superglue covering his behind, while a green snake-like Pokémon was dealing with its tail in the remaining superglue on the chair.

Ash, Anabel, and V stared dumbfounded at Ash's savior, who was:

"Trip?" Ash asked. "But didn't you try to kill me and burn down the Pewter Gym?"

"No and no." Trip responded. "But it's a long story and that doesn't matter right now. You need to get to the Stadium f-a-s-t. I can deal with Serperior stuck in superglue."

Taking orders from the least expected person possible, the Frontier Duo ran off towards the stadium, V following at a much slower pace.

. . . . . . . . .

"Max, you 'attacked' the wrong person!" Was the first thing May said when she and Max had left the Pokémon Center.

"Well, how was I supposed to tell?" Max responded. "No one told me what Ash's stepdad looked like."

"Ash's mom was with him!" Misty retorted. "That's no excuse. And you attacked a Ranger? That's not good either."

Max brushed her concern aside. "It doesn't matter. I managed to put the superglue on trAsh's chair. He'll be in for a pleasant surprise." He began to laugh evilly.

"Isn't that him right now?" Calem asked.

Max stopped laughing. All of them did. Sure enough, like Calem said, Ash was running towards the stadium, Anabel right behind him. "So, er, now what?" Max whispered. Everyone shrugged.

Ash was now at the stadium entrance. Well, the stadium entrance blocked by some of our "favorite" characters. Ash scowled upon seeing them and Pikachu's cheeks began to spark.

"What's that?" Max taunted. "You can't come in? Hah. If Tournament Officials aren't going to do anything, we'll take matters into our own hands. You can't stop all of us. If you do, you're going to be late for your battle and get disqua-"

"Sceptile, Leaf Blade!"

"Inteleon, Snipe Shot!"

Streams of water hit each traitor before Leaf Blades knocked them down again.

"Who did that?" Max demanded. "Show yourself right now!"

"We did." A calm voice said.

The voice was traced back to an unamused Gloria, who was standing a few meters away from the entrance with Callum, who had an equal look of unamusement.

"Well then," Max snarled. "I'll get you two disqualified as we-"

"Winter, Psycho Cut."

Pink blades of energy slammed themselves into Max, toppling him over again.

"Who did that this time?" Max demanded.

"I did."

V was standing another few meters away from Max, with an angered Gallade, who was most likely Winter, by his side. Max looked at the Gallade and...laughed.

"You call that thing a Gallade?" He scoffed, causing Winter to boil over with rage. "Heck, my Gallade could beat that wimp."

It took everything for V to stop Winter from rushing forward and smacking Max on the face.

"Get to stadium. You only have five minutes left" V directed to Ash, Anabel, Callum and Gloria. "I'll deal with this...lump of salt."

They didn't need another warning. Both teams ran off into the stadium, while the traitors tried their best (and failed) to stop them. Max simply snarled.

"All right." He spat bitterly, while holding a Pokéball "Let's see whose Gallade is better. Obviously mine."

. . . . . . . . .

"You okay Ash?"

Ash looked up from Latias' Pokéball. Everything that happened in the last few minutes was an absolute blur. He and Anabel rushed in, got their Pokémon checked for drugs and were now waiting in the Locker Room to be called.

"Yeah. Can't believe Max would go **that far** to stop us from getting in this battle. Putting the superglue. Yeah. That was too far." Ash sighed.

Anabel looked up thoughtfully. "One thing I would like to know is why Trip would help you. He burned the Pewter Gym down and tried to kill you."

Ash could remember the attempt on his life easily. But something snapped into his head. "He said that it was a long story."

Anabel was somewhat horrified. "So you're saying that he could've been impersonated?"

"Yeah."

An eerie silence followed.

"So, uh. Which Pokémon are you leading with?" Ash asked, deciding to break the silence.

"Espeon." Anabel responded almost immediately. "I feel like she could go with some really-intense battling here."

"Espe" Espeon nudged Anabel's leg affectionately.

"Starting with Pikachu." Ash responded almost half-heartedly, something Anabel did not fail to notice.

"Ash. I know what's on your mind right now." She said helpfully.

"You don't." Ash almost immediately retorted. "They accused me of cheating in front of everyone and-"

"Well, in doing so, they've turned themselves into a Media Circus. And they're going to be in for surprise when we use...you know."

Ash sighed again, looking into Anabel's eyes, Espeon's, and then Pikachu's. He chuckled. "Looks like I've been an idiot so far." He got up excitedly. "But that's changing with this batt-"

"Will Frontier Brains Ash and Anabel step up to the platform please?" The intercom buzzed.

A chorus of laughter rang out from the interruption, before the Frontier Duo stepped onto the platform.

. . . . . . . . .

"Ice Punch, Winter!"

A Gallade's right fist became cloaked with ice and slammed into the other Gallade's chest.

"Night Slash Gallade!"

"Hold your ground"

Max's Gallade regained its composure mid-fall and began to charge up his attack. A few seconds later, he barreled into the unmoving Winter, Gallade's right fist cloaked in darkness, then slashing at Winter's chest spike, causing pain in both the Gallade and his trainer. However, despite both of them being in pain, a yellow-orange aura flared around Winter.

"Crap." Max swore. "That weakling has Justified."

"Never underestimate your enemy, no matter how weak they seem to appear." V advised, getting over the sudden surge of pain. "It'll really damage your chances of winning."

"Seems like the bond between you two really backfired, huh?" Max taunted, shocking his own partner by not showing remorse on the pained Gallade on the floor.

"Are you saying that you don't care for or show love towards your own Gallade?" V questioned. "The same Ralts you saved as child?"

Max's eyes widened at how remorseless and cruel his own words sounded. "W-w-well, I-I do c-care for him." Max stuttered. "Those words weren't supposed to sound that cruel."

"Well, think twice before you think." V advised, getting up from the floor. "Winter, Leaf Blade!"

"Gallade, Drain Punch."

Winter's arms became cloaked in a green light as he prepared to meet the other Gallade head-on

. . . . . . . . .

As Ash and Anabel walked onto the field, it was rather...noticeable that there was a major shift in the audience. As the cheers resonated in the stadium, there was also...a chorus of boos. Ash momentarily tapped into his Aura and scowled.

"What is it?" Anabel inquired.

"Some of those spectators believed the lies of that...bastard!" Ash hissed.

Anabel giggled. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

As if on cue, an angered person rushed onto the pitch, wielding a stick, only to be restrained by Callum.

"Yeah." Anabel realized, while watching Callum hand the uncooperative intruder to security. "It can't be _that_ bad."

Callum dusted himself before speaking. "Well, it's just like a few months ago, but you've definitely gotten stronger this time."

"But so have we!" Gloria finished excitedly. "So let's end this with as much as we've got!"

"Well, let's say our little...trick for victory has been boosted by your brother." Ash admitted. A few whispers of surprise spread at the mention of V (or Victor, to be precise).

"There's a small story about Victor you should listen to after the battle." Gloria added, much to the interest of Ash and Anabel (and some of the audience).

The four decided to stop the chatter and took their positions.

"This is a tag battle between Frontier Brains Ash and Anabel and Pokemon Trainers Callum and Gloria." The referee declared, while boos sounded among the audience. He waved down the flags. "Battle begin!"

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash shouted, launching Pikachu from his arm onto the field.

"Espeon, come out my friend." Anabel declared calmly, throwing out the purple Pokémon's Pokeball, causing said creature to give a light cry of its name upon being sent out.

"Come on out Sceptile!" Callum called, tossing out said Pokémon's Pokéball.

"Inteleon, time for another battle." Gloria said, sending out the Spy Pokémon.

All four Pokémon stood on the field, glaring daggers at their opponents, waiting for the first move. Callum decided to take it.

"Leaf Blade on Pikachu!" He ordered.

"Intercept with Psychic." Anabel countered calmly.

"Sucker Punch!" Gloria commanded.

Inteleon's fist became shrouded in darkness, before it socked Espeon in the face. With nothing stopping it, Sceptile slashed at Pikachu with the leaves on its arms. Pikachu was sent flying from the impact of the attack.

"Pikachu, Electoweb!" Ash shouted.

Pikachu's tail began to crackle with energy before two webs of electricity were launched towards the opposing two Pokémon, with their speeds being slowed down. While Sceptile looked okay, Inteleon was especially roughed up by the web. A look of worry made its way up to Gloria's face.

"U-turn out of there!" Gloria commanded.

Lime-green energy gathered around Inteleon as it barreled into Espeon again and then returned to Gloria's waiting Pokéball.

Anabel was feeling uneasy at the grin on Gloria's face and...was that excitement and pride she felt from the other girl?

"Come out Urshifu!" Gloria shouted happily.

A large bipedal bear with black-gray fur with a white face and yellow snout came out of the Pokéball and roared. Judging from the "hairstyle" on the Urshifu's head, it was rapid-strike style.

Bad enough that V's single-strike style Urshifu could beat them easily. What about the one who could strike repeatedly? It was going to be hard (even though it was weaker than V's). Worse yet, thanks to Unseen Fist, almost every move Urshifu had would be able to pass through Protect and the likes.

Even with two type advantages, Ash and Anabel were feeling uneasy. Their lead Pokémon were exhausted and their opponents had barely taken a scratch. Gloria had Urshifu, but what could Callum have? Another Urshifu? The Moltres he healed? A Legendary gifted to the "Miracle Maker" from Victor, the "Tamer of Legends" of Legends himself? The list kept going.

Anabel was holding Latios' Pokéball and was ready to-

"Wait." Ash said, tugging on Anabel's arm. "We still have our chan-"

"Surging Strikes!" Gloria called, interrupting Ash's train of thought.

Urshifu's fists became shrouded in water before lunging towards the opposing Pokémon.

"Intercept with Iron Tail!" Ash shouted back, panicking slightly.

Pikachu's lightening bolt-shaped tail gave off a metallic sheen before the Mouse Pokémon slammed it into Urshifu's incoming fists, denying the attack.

. . . . . . . . .

"Well, this is also obviously staged."

Paul was busy glaring daggers at the battle taking place below. Pikachu was busy blocking Urshifu's punches with more Iron Tails while Sceptile was waiting for Espeon to recover.

"Well, duh." A boy stated matter-of-factly. Ever since that morning's rant by Mr. Collins of Ash drugging his Pokémon, Ash's group of "friends" had found themselves a l-o-t of supporters, mostly composed of those who held grudges or lost against the Battle Frontier. "That Sceptile isn't even striking down the weakling of an Espeon."

"I think it's being modest." Cilan suggested. "Getting a fair battle with those weaker the-"

"Who cares about being modest?" Paul snarled, smashing the gang rail in front of him, much to the surprise of everyone around him. "The Sceptile's being weak and isn't even showing its true strength. And how has that Pikachu not fallen yet?" He paused then scoffed. "It simple. This. Battle. Is. Staged."

"Shame that Max couldn't stop them from coming." Dawn noted.

Espeon managed to recover from her prior injuries and a chorus of boos resonated from the traitors' supporters.

"Speaking of which," May added after some time. "Where is Max?"

"Dealing with the third person." Someone responded. "Some guy named V."

Shock resonated among the traitors.

" **That** V?" Paul asked.

"I think so." Calem responded.

"You know him?" Another person asked.

Paul gritted his teeth. Yes, he knew the person. That one guy who defended Ash and Anabel and attacked those "serving justice" with two elves with the poor excuses of being Legendary Pokémon. Ugh. How he managed to tailgate them was another question. How did V get his hands on two Legendary Pokémon was the main question.

"Yeah." Dawn responded bitterly. "He attacked his with Mes-" Her eyes widened with horror.

"What?" Someone asked.

"Nonononono." Dawn muttered. "That's impossible."

"What is?" The same person asked.

"That thief." Dawn snapped.

"Thief?"

"I've formed a bond with Mesprit." Dawn muttered bitterly, much to the surprise of everyone. "But Mesprit is with tha-tha-that...thief!"

Gasps, then silence.

"I need to help Max." May said after some time. "If that thi-"

"Don't." Dawn said. "You'll ruin your reputation further."

"But-"

"Take a look at what's happened with Clemont and Serena." Dawn continued. "I'm surprised Serena hasn't lost her title yet."

"Besides." Trip added. "Your brother's been bragging how strong he is. You shouldn't worry."

May sighed. "You're right. I've simply been stupid. Max'll be fine."

She actually wasn't so sure, and that feeling was right.

. . . . . . . . .

"Continue with Night Slash. That Gallade doesn't have Justified."

Winter's claws began to envelope with darkness before they were launched into Max's Gallade, giving the latter Pokémon surges of pain.

"Gallade!" Max shouted, seeing his partner Pokémon collapse out of pain, but still having the stamina to fight.

"Are you done yet?" V questioned, a look of concern for Gallade on his face.

"Not yet." Max said through gritted teeth. He helped up another Pokéball. "Sceptile, help him out!"

The lizard came out with an angered look.

"You're going that low to cheat?" V asked, slightly disturbed.

"Cheat? Hah. You're the cheater here!" Max declared. "I'm just stopp-"

"Winter, Fire Punch."

Winter's fist burst into flames as he rushed towards Sceptile, but Max had one trick up his sleeves.

"Sceptile, Mega Evolve!" Max shouted, gripping the turquoise marble as jets of light soared towards the Grass-type.

Thanks to the extra Dragon-typing, Sceptile was able to shake off the Fire Punch, but V wasn't done yet.

"Ice Punch!" He shouted.

Winter's fist became shrouded in ice before-

"Leaf Storm the wimp at bay."

Before Winter could launch his icy fist at Sceptile, a storm of leaves overtook him, grazing his cheek, arm, and chest repeatedly, while V looked on in horror.

"Go on." Max said smugly. "Admit you're a cheater and he'll go free. Otherwise." Max made a slicing motion.

V gritted his teeth, seeing Winter hurt over and over. Finally, he decided to send out help.

"I guess I shou-Ow!"

He dropped the Ultra Ball holding Regigigas due to a single Bullet Seed having struck him on the hand quickly and painfully. He reached inside his trench coat again to take out his Keystone.

"Winter, Mega Evo-Ow!"

Another Bullet Seed struck him on his hand, and the Keystone plummeted like a rock. On collision, it shattered, leaving V staring in shock.

Max smiled smugly. "Oh well. Seems like your puny little Ralts can go die in a ho-"

"Vanillish, Sheer Cold!"

A breath of coldness struck Sceptile, encasing it in ice, and then causing it to faint. The storm of leaves surrounding Winter subsided, and it was clearly visible Winter was now close to crying.

Max was shocked. "Trip, why are you helping people like...them? You're with us."

Trip didn't respond.

"Gallade, finish off that weakling!" Max shouted. He was going to have the last laugh.

As Max's Gallade prepared to finish off the defenseless Winter, a sudden cyan blur rushed into the healthier Gallade, finishing it off.

Max bitterly recalled his Gallade before running off. "This won't be the last time you beat me cheaters!" He huffed.

V took one last spiteful look at Max before rushing to Winter's side.

The Gallade had definitely taken the beating. His face was red with shame, something that was clearly visible with his white face, and tears began to trickle down from his eyes. As soon as V was close enough, Winter dove into his coat, now sobbing uncontrollably.

"Was that...his first loss?" Trip asked curiously, seeing V's trench coat being extremely dampened by Winter's tears.

V simply nodded.

. . . . . . . . .

"Max, you're back!" May exclaimed happily. "How did-Max?"

Max was simply fuming, and the one reason why was just in front of him.

"How could you assist him like that?" He roared at Trip, much to the surprise of everyone nearby.

"Assist who?" Trip inquired.

"Don't lie to me." Max snarled. "You helped the cheater and caused me to lo-"

"He was with us the entire time." Paul informed him. "There's no way Trip could've assisted V whi-"

"V?" Max questioned. "That's who he was? Hah. I beat him!" He exclaimed proudly puffing his chest out.

"Well yes, you beat him, but you in a legal standpoint, you didn't." One other spectator commented.

Max looked horrified while everyone glared at him. "But I beat him fair and square!" Max exclaimed.

The spectator snorted. "Really?" He asked. "Is double teaming someone 'fair and square?' Is attacking the opposing trainer to prevent them from Mega Evolving 'fair and square?' I saw your match. **You** cheated."

Everyone gasped out of shock.

. . . . . . . . .

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Espeon, Psychic!"

Both Frontier Brains' lead Pokémon launched their respective attacks at Urshifu, critically damaging it severely, but not enough to make it faint. Urshifu, however, launched numerous punches at the two, while Espeon managed to dodge, Pikachu was hit. Like the hits on Urshifu, this punch wasn't enough to make it faint. Still though, Pikachu was panting heavily.

Ash grit his teeth, trying to decide his next move. Callum decided to take advantage of his hesitance with:

"Leaf Blade!"

The blades on Sceptile's arms grew green and extended before being used to attack Pikachu before attacking Espeon as well.

Both Pokémon lay on the ground, though not yet defeated.

Gloria, however, had other plans.

"Aqua Jet!" She ordered.

Urshifu barreled towards the two Pokémon, cloaked in water. Collision was made, and Pikachu and Espeon fainted. But as Gloria and Urshifu relished in their victory, Urshifu was then attacked by small jolts of electricity coming from Pikachu's Static. Although it was a simple action that occurred, it was a huge relief for Ash and Anabel: Urshifu was slightly crippled and was easier to defeat now. 

Ash picked up Pikachu, while Anabel recalled Espeon. Both Frontier Brains looked at each other and grinned. Without indication of what was inside, the two threw the Pokéballs of their final Pokémon.

The crowd gasped at seeing not one, not two, but three Legendary Pokémon on the field, and two of them were rarer than the other one.

Latias twirled around mid-air while Latios glared at Urshifu. Urshifu glared right back.

"S-so I guess this was your winning tactic V gave to you?" Callum croaked out after managing to find his voice.

"No, we weren't." Latias piped up before Ash or Anabel had a chance to speak.

"You'll see it later." Latios added.

"Latias and Latios versus Sceptile and Urshifu." The Referee declared. "Battle Begin!"

. . . . . . . . .

"Did anyone learn about this?" Paul snarled. Bad enough that V had Uxie and Mesprit. Now the weaklings on the stadium floor and Latias and Latios as well?

"Now come to think about it..." Max brought up. "Last night, while listening to their conversation, V was close to saying Latias or Latios."

"Why didn't you stay there then?" Paul asked, gripping onto the kid and shaking him tightly.

"Do you want me to get **shot**?" Max responded, and the answer caused everyone to gasp.

"He has a gun?" May asked nervously.

Max nodded glumly, but then his face brightened up. "Hey, let's get him convicted of Arms Trafficking! Then the weaklings'll have no one to protect them."

"Er, you know that Arms Trafficking goes in Criminal Trials right?" Cilan asked, a bit unsure.

Max nodded. "Of course! Then the charges are more severe!"

"Well, a Federal Prosecutor presses charges." Cilan rebutted. "Your Lawyer can't do that."

Max's face dropped instantly.

"What about the Legendaries though?" Someone asked.

"That's easy: we get rid of them."

. . . . . . . . .

The ensuing battle would be an absolute nightmare for an innocent bystander. Psychic energy was thrown everywhere (though Urshifu would dodge easily and Sceptile would just stand there...menacingly). Urshifu would attempt to punch anything in its way, leaving blotches of water everywhere.

Ash sucked in his breath. This battle would be going nowhere at this pace. He turned to look at Anabel and both of them nodded, with one thought in their head: "It's time"

Both of them took out their Keystones, and shouted in unison "Mega Evolve!"

Bright light began to burst out of the two Eon Pokémon, prompting more gasps from the audience (and boos from a _certain_ group of people). Once the bright light had died down, the two Legendaries looked almost identical, apart from their eyes.

"Psychic!" Ash and Anabel commanded in unison.

Both Legendaries' eyes glowed cyan and Sceptile was suddenly launched into a wall with a dual burst of psychic energy.

"That'll be you next." Latios said to Urshifu menacingly. Urshifu, however, didn't flinch.

"Aqua Jet!" Gloria shouted, but there was a hint of worry in her voice.

Urshifu barreled towards the closest Eon Pokémon, shrouded in water, but the collision with the Dragon-type did almost nothing.

"Luster Purge!" Anabel commanded.

Bright light surged out of Latios again, hitting Urshifu, but it wasn't enough to make it faint. Urshifu simply roared with anger, causing the Eon Pokémon to gulp.

"Latias, Psychic on Sceptile!"

Sceptile was suddenly cloaked in a cyan hue and launched towards the ground.

"Sceptile is unable to battle." The referee declared. "Please send out your next Pokémon."

Callum grinned at Ash. "Looks like you've developed some skills. But this battle isn't over yet." He pulled out an Ultra Ball. "Come on out Hydreigon!"

Ash and Anabel gulped. Not only was this a Pseudo-Legendary they were facing, but it most likely had all sorts of moves effective against Latias and Latios. Not to mention that it was immune to their psychic type atta-

"Dragon Breath!" Both of them ordered.

Both Eon Pokémon opened their mouths and let out a weak jolt of purple electricity (with a yellow aura) at Hydreigon. Hydreigon was initially shocked by the two breaths, but was still standing (or more accurately, floating), which was surprising, considering that Hydreigon have bad defenses.

"I've trained Hydreigon to have its defenses upped so its gonna last the hardest hit." Callum said, still grinning.

"Psychic on Urshifu!" Ash and Anabel ordered in unison (and a certain Frontier Brain was raising his eyebrows at this).

Urshifu was slammed into a wall multiple times, but was still standing.

"Once more!"

This, time Urshifu fainted. Gloria recalled the Legendary (and muttering "You were great out there.") before sending Inteleon out again.

"Snipe Shot!" Gloria ordered.

A stream of water left Inteleon's fingertips, slamming into whatever was closest. In this case, Latias. However, Latias shook off the attack like it was nothing.

"Use Snarl!" Callum ordered.

Dark-type energy hit both Eon Pokémon, with Latios looking worse from the hit (Latios are more offense-based).

"Dragon Breath!" Ash and Anabel commanded again.

The dual-force of the dragon-type attack barreled into Hydreigon again, as well as Inteleon, but Callum and Gloria had other plans.

"Snipe shot!"

"Snarl, once again!"

Both attacks hit their mark as the Dragon Breath projectiles struck their respective targets, causing a large, purple explosion allover the battlefield. When the smoke cleared, all four Pokémon out of the match, much to the surprise of the crowd. Latias and Latios reverted back to their default forms, with the former cooing sadly.

"Er, Latias, Latios Hydreigon, and Inteleon are unable to battle." The referee declared in a stunned tone. "This match is a tie."

A chorus of cheers resonated in stadium, without a single boo able to be heard.

"Well, I have to say, great match." Callum commended, recalling Hydreigon as he spoke. "Now what's going to happen?"

"Let's continue this talk outside." Anabel suggested. "We'll probably not have enough time up here."

The other three nodded, then left.

. . . . . . . . .

Upon stepping outside the locker room, Ash and Anabel saw the familiar faces of their colleagues.

"Hope your ego didn't spike after _that_ battle." Brandon said jokingly.

The group laughed.

Greta decided to speak up. "That does raise the question of where you got those Mega sto-"

"V" Ash and Anabel said almost immediately.

Ash paused and looked around. "Speaking of which, where is-"

"Hey thief! Tell us where you poached those Legendaries from!"

Anabel sighed. "Not again."

Max was approaching them with an accusatory finger, but what alarmed the Frontier Brains was the amount of people escorting them. Say, 25 people?

"You stole those Legendary Pokémon!" Max accused. "Don't pretend you didn't."

Noland sighed. "Kid, those Pokémon joined those two on their own accord. It's similar to my case with Articuno."

"Pfft." Max retorted. "Similar, but not the same. Articuno joined you, but was never caught. These two on the other hand," He gestured towards Ash and Anabel "stole them in the same style of cheaters they actually are!"

"Not to add the little weakling here." Misty jerked her head at Ash. "stole the Latias possibly with the excuse 'she likes me'"

Serena gasped, and Ash could, sorta, understand why.

"YOU STOLE THEM!" Paul roared. "ADM-"

"Blasphemy."

"Excuse me?" Paul asked. "Repeat that right now and-"

"I said, blasphemy."

Anabel was able sense 4 beings, one of them sad (and possibly crying), the rest angry, although two of them were a bit comforting.

V wheeled around the corner, Callum and Gloria following, while the latter two was comforting a crying Winter, whose eyes were red and puffy, most likely from crying.

Max snorted. "What are you here for? Admitti-"

SMACK

Everyone looked on in horror as Winter began attacking Max with Leaf Blade, over and over.

"Winter, that's enou-"

Winter glared at V, with a look that obviously said "it's not." But before any blows were exchanged, V grabbed Winter and muttered something, before grabbing Ash and Anabel with a "we've got something important to discuss," and left, ignoring the numerous jeers behind them, leaving Callum and Gloria to deal with an outraged Winter still trying to stab Max.

Once they were outside of earshot, Ash decided to speak up. "What's the deal here?" He asked.

"Trip." V responded curtly.

The trio entered a small meeting room. An oval-shaped table sat in the middle, with 8 chairs around it. And on one of these seats, sat Trip, who nodded once to acknowledge their presence once they saw down.

"You need to see this." He said, handing over his iconic, teal, digital camera.

. . . . . . . . .

"What?" Someone, most likely Dawn, asked. "Trip did what?"

"He did." Another person responded. This one seemed like Iris. "I had gone back after the Little Kid's 'death' to return the keys to the Pewter Gym. Then, when walking to Pallet, Trip passed by. A few minutes later, when I turned back, the Gym was on fire."

A few gasps.

"But Trip doesn't have a Fire-Type." May said.

"He does: a Lampent. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a Chandelure now." Iris responded. "But that's not the point. Trip was on the middle of a flight to the Nature Preserve. He couldn't have gotten off because there were so many people onboard the small plane."

"So how did he-"

A door opened.

"That's what I've been wondering as well." Someone unfamiliar commented. "Trip was over an ocean, yet with us the entire time. And what about V, that guy who was with us?"

"First of all," Dawn said suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"Oh right." Serena said with a tone of "how did I forget?" "This is Calem. He made it in the top...8 in the Lumoise Conference."

"Yeah." Calem responded almost menacingly. "Can't believe the bag of trAsh has a ton of special Pokémon. They'd go rather nicely with other trainers. And a Mythical? Pfft. Meanwhile, I'd like a word with V. I'll punch him in the face for attacking us."

"You alright Dawn?" May asked. "You've been kind of...off ever since Calem mentioned the name 'V'"

"Wha? Oh. I'm fine. No need to worry." Dawn said cheerfully, but it was obvious to the educated mind that there was a need to worry.

The door opened again.

"You're not." Someone said, and this was Trip for sure. "You're obviously thinki-"

"By the way." Another Trip said quietly, while the Trip inside was still talking. "That Trip talking in there isn't me."

"ng about that guy V." The Trip inside the room finished.

"Okay, fine." Dawn said reluctantly. "I've been thinking about the Pokémon he used to attack us. They seemed kind of...familiar."

"Well all I can remember was that there were two of them...and they were gray." Another person, this time Paul, remarked. "Hmm, oh wait."

"What is it?"

"Figure it out yourself."

"WHAT?" Dawn screamed. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TELL ME? THIS COULD CAUSE TRaSH TO DO EVEN MORE-"

"Be quiet" Misty hissed.

The quietness of the room allowed everyone to hear frantic footsteps.

"Great" May muttered. "Absolutely brilliant. We're going to get caught and I can't eat anymore FOOD!"

"Is that all you care about?" Calem asked. He suddenly stopped what he was about to say and threw the door open. "What do you want, intruder?" He snarled. Someone on the other end gulped. "If you're not of much use you can ge..."

"Let him in. He's my brother." May called out.

Max gave out a sigh of relief.

"Okay. So. The little bag of trAsh is having his battle tomorrow." Max explained "What's more it's against two people they've never managed to beat before."

May snorted. "So? It's not like those two cheaters are going to wi..."

"Sis. The friend they have with them gave them 'a little something' that'll allow them to win."

"Yeah?" Calem asked. "What is it?"

"Couldn't tell. He managed to sense I was there and thought I was a threat. I barely made it out of there with my life."

A few panicked mutters could be heard.

Dawn decided to speak up. "This treat may allow them to win, but no need to worry! We can simply stop them from reaching the battlefield."

Calem paused. "So we stop them with everything we have, right?"

"Yep! And Mrs. Ketch...Collins can help us a bit." Misty remarked.

"Considering that Brandon and Palmer managed to scare them off yesterday, I have real hopes for them." Paul said sarcastically.

"It won't exactly matter." Trip said. "All we need is enough time for those two to be disqualified from not being present."

"We'll also need to be outside the locker room to deny their entry in the event that they do get past." Max added.

"Excellent plan." Paul remarked. "Now, let's leave."

"Dear Arceus, no" The Outside Trip muttered. He frantically tried to find a spot to hide. Fortunately, no one saw him as the room occupants left.

. . . . . . . . .

"So this was what happened with the Pewter Fire?" Lance asked.

Trip and the Frontier Trio were still inside the meeting room, but, Brock, a sobbing Winter, and Lance were also in there.

Trip nodded glumly. "I've been lied to, impersonated, and possibly insulted."

"So basically, right now, the charges against Trip will be dropped now." Brock said.

"Indeed." Lance responded. "Now the question isn't about Trip burning down the Pewter Gym. It's who impersonated Trip."

"Most likely a Ditto." Ash pointed out.

"Possibly." Lance replied. "But once again, I can't press charges without evidence. And we don't know if its wild if the impostor really was a Ditto. If the scenario screams yes, then we can't do anything about it."

"It'll be easy to point out Trip's innocence though." V pointed out. "We can search up his flight records. But that doesn't help out with the Pewter Fire case."

"Indeed. But thank you anyways for presenting this evidence to me." Lance stated. "Do you mind if I kept this for analysis?"

"Not at all."

"Thank you. I'll return it you once we're done."

Lance left the room with Trip's teal camera in hand. The room was silent until V decided to speak up.

"Well, that was...anticlimactic."

"So, now the gym is in danger from a shapeshifter." Brock muttered. "This...could be bad."

Anabel shook off Brock's concern. "There are G-men staked at every corner. How could things still be bad?"

"Brock is right though." Trip disagreed. "The shapeshifter could pose in as one of them and...you know what happens next."

V shook his head. "Well, Ash, Anabel. We should probably go out to train. The strength of Latias and Latios don't match those of Regieleki and Regidrago." He suddenly stopped as if he let out information he wasn't supposed to, but he mentally cast it aside. "Good day to you both."

. . . . . . . . .

Ash couldn't help but note the amount of discomfort V showed and how he wanted to get out, but whatever his true intentions were, Ash couldn't see it. V's mind was mentally sealed off from any outside force, and whenever Ash tried to read V's mind, all he would get was a blank wall, figuratively speaking of course.

As Ash tried to relay his suspicions to Anabel, a sudden shout of his name interrupted his train of thought.

"Ash!"

The trio recognized the voice and turned around, Ash especially angry. Sure enough, there was his 'mother' running towards them, but what happened next surprised all of them, especially Ash and Pikachu.

Delia hugged him.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked, really confused now.

"That battle was amazing!" Delia said, crushing Ash in a bone-breaking hug (and Ash's face was painted red in embarrassment). "I didn't know you had a Legendary like that or even could Mega-Evolve it!"

V and Anabel were now positively laughing, causing Ash's face to turn redder. V suddenly stopped laughing.

"So, er, you're apologizing?" He asked.

"It was a misunderstanding." Delia admitted.

"Would a misunderstanding lead to Child Neglect?" V asked himself. He paused before realizing what he asked. "No never mind. Don't answer that question."

"So what do you want when you come home?" Delia asked. "Some more cooking? Another outfit?"

V was looking really uncomfortable now. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but we need to get moving."

"Oh right." Delia said. "I'm not offended. I understand. You still have battles to win."

As the trio walked off, Delia called out again. "You'd better win this tournament Ash!"

"I will Mom!" Ash called back.

When Ash was outside earshot, he backed towards Anabel and whispered a conversation between him and her.

"He looks kind suspicious." Ash muttered.

"I don't know." Anabel whispered back. "It's kind of strange, considering how he's behaving, especially with his mind being sealed off from foreign interference."

"We should see where his loyalties are bound." Ash suggested.

"Good idea." Anabel agreed.

Ash took a deep breath and walked up to V. "V? I have a question."

V stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Ask away."

Ash took another deep breath. "What are Regieleki and Regidrago?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Preview:
> 
> Ash: So it's that powerful?
> 
> Anabel: This seems kind of suspicious.
> 
> V: What made you think Mew is hiding here?
> 
> Ash: Tell me everything you know, right now.
> 
> [Spoiler]: Hello there, Victor Hearthstone


	12. Hiatus

Dear Arceus.

After something like today's Pokémon Direct, you would think I'd be releasing another chapter today or tomorrow, right?

No.

There are not enough OCs coming in. Dear Arceus. Do you not pay attention **to the bolding**? I have 2k views, but only two of them bother helping out?

So. It's happening. **Hiatus**.

I'll be back working on YouTube during this time. If you're going to submit an OC, do it at [tinyurl/GP25OC](tinyurl/GP25OC).

However, I would like to voice a thank-you to CarsonNight for being the first to submit an OC. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure where to put Dusk inside the story (definitely not now, there's a hiatus going on) but thank you anyway, and another one to...someone named Fleninja. They've bothered. Why can't you.

Hiatus will last until further notice.


End file.
